Never Let You Down
by colormetheworld
Summary: PIcks up 7 years after What Matters Most. You should give that one a look see before reading this...Maura and Jane, Levi, Sofia, Isabelle, Noah. New original cases, lots of drama and lots of fluff. Hope you like it!
1. Chapter 1

Maura stands on the landing outside the door to her eldest son's attic bedroom. She knocks, and waits, and when no answer comes, she rolls her eyes.

"Levi Michael, you get up right now or I'm having Ma take the door off your room," she calls.

A shuffling of sheets and a muffled groan, something that sounds like, "dunwannah."

"Whether or not you want to get out of bed is irrelevant," she calls back, turning to descend the stairs. "Breakfast in twenty minutes. I expect you in the kitchen, dressed and smelling like a person who takes the necessary amount of pride in his grooming habits."

She listens, and is just about to yell again, when she hears the unmistakable sound of feet hitting floor. "I'm up," Levi grumbles from behind the door. "I'm awake."

Maura smiles, and heads back down to the second floor to check on her other children.

Noah is awake, when she pokes her head in his door, his eyes glued to his cell phone. "Who could you possibly be texting at seven in the morning?" she asks incredulously, stepping into his room over the huge pile of clothes on the floor. "And what have I told you about your clothes?"

Noah doesn't take his eyes off the screen of his phone. "Ma says that as long as I look presentable when I come out, she doesn't care about how my room is."

Maura rolls her eyes. "Oh, she does, does she?" She waves her hand in front of Noah's face, making him swat out at her irritably.

"Mommm!"

"Who are you texting? It's the break of dawn."

"T.J." Noah answers at once. Noah and his cousin are near inseperable, despite the almost three year age difference. "Can he meet at our bus stop?"

Maura holds up a sweater vest she's picked out of his closet. "What does Lydia say?"

Noah wrinkles his nose, "I dunnah, I'll ask…and not that vest Mom, it's not a dress up day."

"It's your first day of fifth grade, you don't want to look nice?"

"Lydia says yes. And no, I wanna look like a middle schooler. I wanna look cool."

Maura sighs, "Alright, Mr. Cool, breakfast is in fifteen. Please arrive sans cell phone."

"yeah, yeah."

"I mean it sir, or it's good-bye texting for the day. No electronics in the kitchen-"

"Or the dining room. I _know_, Mommy."

And even though his tone is something she should correct, he has called her mommy, so she cannot help but smile. She kisses the top of his blonde head, and heads back into the hall, where she meets Sofia coming out of the bathroom.

"How come you and Mama get your own bathroom, and Levi gets his own bathroom, and I have to share with the slobs?"

Maura grins, "Your sister is not a slob, she's just…"

"flighty," Sofia says fondly, heading back towards her room. Maura chuckles, following her. Although the twins are growing up to be as different as night and day, they have insisted on staying together in the same room, and Maura finds it both incredibly trying and incredibly sweet, the way they fight with, and stick up for each other.

Now she looks around the room, "Where is Bella?"

"Running with Ma. She's nervous she won't make soccer this year." Sofia says, disappearing behind the privacy screen that appeared this summer. Maura nods. "Okay…well, breakfast is-"

"In fifteen, yeah. I heard you tell Noah. I'll be down."

…

Back in the kitchen, Maura pours the pancakes. On a whim, she makes two shaped like bunnies, even though she knows that her children are too old to get excited about things like that anymore. She contemplates the summer her family has just had. It seems to have passed much to quickly in a whirl of cleats and sunshine and camps and sunburns.

Someone was always coming or going, bringing friends, or staying out with them, and even though she knows that the school year means seeing less of her children, it also means being with them more. It means sitting down for mandated family dinners three times a week, and it means kids home by a reasonable time to do homework, and go to bed.

All in all, Maura is glad it is September. Even if homicides don't understand the shifting of the seasons, the fall always makes the doctor feel more settled and serene. She enjoys the kind of ritual that comes with her children heading back to school. Even as they get older, there are some things that never change.

She puts the pancakes into the oven to stay warm, and heads out into the hall, where three back packs and a shoulder bag hang on the wall. In the front pocket of each, she puts seven dollars for lunch. In the front pouch of the blue backpack, she puts Noah's epi-pen (for bees) and in Sofia's gold and silver pack she puts her epi-pen (for strawberries).

She stands back and looks at the bags, thinking about all the times she's done this before, all the other first days, she's dragged her children out of their beds.

She grins. It's wonderful.

…

She's setting the table when Jane and Isabelle thunder into the front hall, and she can hear them laughing and talking and breathing hard as they make their way towards the kitchen.

"I won!" Isabelle's voice is so similar to Maura's that even Jane can't tell them apart on the phone, and Maura shakes her head at her daughter's competitiveness.

"You won because I had to carry Jo Friday the last half mile." Jane, out of breath and whining.

"Says the mother who brags about the time she dragged Uncle Korsak to safety. He's like fifty times Jo Friday's size!"

The two of them appear around the corner and Maura looks up, smiling a greeting.

"That was over two decades ago. I was a much younger woman, and Korsak was a much smaller man," Jane sulks, coming over to kiss Maura on the cheek.

Isabelle plops down at the breakfast bar, pulling the elastic out of her long strawberry blonde hair. She grins at Maura, and it's like looking into a time warp. "I don't know, Ma…I think maybe you're getting…"

"Don't you dare," Jane warns, pointing her finger at her daughter.

"Oh-" Isabelle starts, and Jane's pretend scowl deepens.

"OLD!" the teenager cries, and Jane slaps her hand over her heart. She looks at Maura, brown eyes wide and sparkling.

"This…from your child," she says.

Maura laughs, shooing Isabelle off of her stool. "Belle, go shower and change," she says, watching her daughter unfold herself. "And bang on Lee's door will you?"

"He's not up yet?" Jane asks, her head in the refrigerator.

"He made noise," Maura says, "but I'm unconvinced."

Jane pulls back from the fridge with an apple in her mouth. She rolls her eyes. "I thought I told him to either stay twelve or to skip sixteen altogether," she says, poking at Isabelle as she goes by. "Hurry up, Iz, I told you, you can only run mornings with Mom and me if you can leave on time for the bus with the others."

Isabelle sighs, but scoots away up the stairs, calling out for her sister.

Maura turns to Jane. "You had to carry Jo Friday?"

Jane's face falls, "Yeah," she gestures that Maura should follow her into the living room, and they round the corner to look at Jo, already curled up asleep in her bed by the sofa. "She got tired on the way back. Just lay down."

Maura kneels down to run her hand over the little wiry haired dog. Jo Friday's tail thumps. "Well, she's what…sixteen?"

Jane frowns, "Seventeen, I think," she says.

"You can't expect her to keep up with you and Bella anymore, Jane. She's an old lady."

Jane smiles ruefully. "_I'm_ an old lady, Maur. I'm not gonna be able to keep up with Isabelle much longer either. That kid can fly. Wait until you run with her tomorrow."

Both Maura and Jane like to run in the morning, but with school back in session, they rotate days, Jane running Monday and Wednesday, and Maura Tuesdays and Thursday. Usually Isabelle goes with them, and sometimes Levi, although less often, lately.

"I mean, she can really fly, Maur. Maybe we should get her like…a coach or something."

But Maura is still looking down at Jo Friday, "I think we might take her to the vet, Jane," she says after a moment.

"What?" Jane looks surprised. "No, she's fine. She's just old."

"Statistically speaking, she's past the average age for dogs her-"

But Jane waves her away, heading back to the kitchen. "I won't run her anymore, Maur, that's all. She's fine."

Maura sighs, turning to follow. She knows why Jane is so opposed to hearing about her dog's possible slowing down. Jo Friday was Maura's gift to her on their first Christmas together as adults. She was there for all of their children's home comings and has been at Jane's side through everything. Maura watches as Jane pulls a bottle of water out of the fridge.

"So do you think Isabelle is going to make the squad?"

Jane snorts into her water bottle. "Team, Maura," she says chuckling, "and if she doesn't at least make the Freshman team, then the coaches are blind and deaf."

Maura is about to say more, but at that moment, Four pairs of feet can be heard on the stairs, though just barely over the raised voices of their owners.

"Ma! Isabelle didn't shower!"

"So? I smell fine!"

"If she doesn't have to shower after she works out, how come I have to shower after every breath?"

"Because you're a boy, and you reek like…three hundred percent of the time,"

"I don't reek!"

"You're not a teenager yet, dum-dum,"

Jane rolls her eyes, and strides towards the dining room, kissing the side of Maura's head as she goes. "Sofia, do not call your brother a dum-dum. He is a cherished and valued member of this family, despite the fact that he will grow into a big, smelly teenager like his brother."

Maura chuckles, grabbing the plate of pancakes from the oven where they've been keeping warm, and moving to set it in the middle of the dining room table.

"I want a bunny one!" Noah cries, reaching out across the table.

"Me too!" Isabelle, knocking her brother's hand out of the way.

"Mine!" Levi squawks, and Sofia lunges too, her own thin hand reaching out.

"Heathens!" Jane shouts, and she lifts the plate up, out of their reach. "Be STILL!"

They all fall silent, looking at her. Maura stifles a giggle.

Jane glares around at them. "Enough of this! It is time to pull yourselves together!" She looks at each of them in turn, and Maura thinks she looks a little fearsome and a little beautiful. Nobody speaks.

"You have spent this summer stampeding in and out of this house like a herd of wild buffalo," she focuses particularly hard on Noah, who pretends to be very interested in his nails. "You each have about six hundred friends, none of whom, from what I can tell do not get the proper amount of love or nutrition in their own homes.

Isabelle ducks her head, possibly to hide a snicker. "I spent July telling strange teenage girls they're so pretty…and August watching football players eat the last of my hot pockets!"

Levi looks up at the ceiling. Jane points at Maura.

"Your mother has baked endlessly, for your sales and your car washes and your sleepovers. She has done _mountains_, of laundry, some of which required me to bring home a HASMAT suit for her so that she didn't perish."

All the children are giggling now, and Jane has to work hard to keep a straight face, as Maura rolls her eyes, grinning.

"But now, it is the first day of school, you are off to relearn everything you forgot last year, and it is up to your teachers to tame you…god help them. So, in celebration and mourning, your mother and I will be eating the bunny pancakes…and you.. heathens! Will get the plain round ones. Because we somehow, have made it through the summer with you lot."

Jane leans over and Maura lifts one of the bunnies off the plate, chuckling. "Your Ma is right," she says to her giggling children. "We love you all dearly…but it is a miracle and a blessing that each of you is going back to school in one piece."

The kids laugh, each picking out a pancake. Levi and Isabelle grab bananas from the center bowl.

"Pass the syrup, Lee," Sofia says quietly, and then, "Thank Mom...for making all those brownies this summer."

"Yeah, Sorry my team ate all your hot pockets, Ma," Levi says, pouring syrup all over his plate.

"Yeah," Noah.

"Thanks," Isabelle.

Jane flashes wide eyes at her wife. "Just call me Detective Rizzoli. Kid whisperer."

Maura laughs. "Don't push your luck, detective."

.

They watch their children get ready to leave the house, jostling and laughing, slinging back packs over shoulders, pulling on jackets.

"Watch you're brother onto his bus," Maura says, because Jane refuses to utter anything that begins with _watch your brother._

Isabelle slings her arm around Noah as they head down the steps. "Don't worry, Ma, we won't let chowdah head here get lost."

"I am _not!" _Noah says with a push, pulling out his cell phone, presumably to text TJ.

"We should never have gotten that for him," Maura sighs as she watches the retreating backs of her children.

Jane slides her arm around the doctor's waist. "Tommy got junior one, what were we supposed to do? Make him the only Rizzoli without a phone?"

Maura sighs and leans into Jane. "Another school year."

"Another school year."

"What do you think the chances are we'll have today without a call from dispatch."

Maura smiles, "Now that you've said that? Slim to none."

"Why, Dr. Isles...you're giving in to superstition!" Jane teases, and Maura feels her lips on the side of her head. Her eyes flutter closed.

"High school for our girls," she says, and Jane understands.

"They'll be fine. They're good kids. And they've got Levi to watch out for them."

They stand for a while, looking out at the crisp clear morning, empty of their children, now.

"Ugh, I don't even want to start anyting," Jane murmurs, "The moment I do, the phone's going to ring."

Maura grins, and turns into Jane, leaning up to kiss her. It's slow, and sensual, and Jane pulls back after a moment, eyes darker, looking surprised. "Maur?"

"It's only superstition if you can't back it up with facts," she says lowly, pressing Jane back from the doorway and into the house. Jane bites her lip, grinning. Maura smirks.

"Come here...let me test the theory."


	2. Chapter 2

Dispatch calls not twenty minutes later, and Jane sits up grumpily, wrapping the bedsheet around herself.

"Rizzoli," she growls into the phone.

Maura rolls over, grabbing her own phone off the bedside table. "Isles."

"Yep," Jane says shortly.

"Of course," Maura tries to swallow her chuckle, "Give us twenty."

"It's on Boylston? We'll be there in ten," Jane says at the same time, glancing at Maura.

They snap their phones off.

"You'd think after fifteen years, dispatch would call just one of us," Jane says, sighing and swinging her legs over the side of the bed. She doesn't get up, but flexes her shoulders, stretching. Maura licks her lips, resisting the temptation to pull her lanky detective back to her.

"Your dispatch and my dispatch are two different places, Jane."

She shrugs. "Still. We've been on the same team for forever now." She stands up and wanders towards her closet, scratching her shoulder. "I hope it's open and shut," she says, disappearing behind the door. Maura sighs, swinging her own feet over the side of the bed. "Now that the kids are back in school, I want some time to just sit on the couch and drink a beer."

"You did plenty of that this summer, sweetheart," Maura teases, moving to contemplate her own closet.

"I mean sit on the couch and enjoy a beer, and no one's yelling about lost cleats, or 'hey can my friends come over and…' or 'hey, turn the channel, iCarly is on,'" Jane responds from out of sight.

Maura smiles. "Yes. That child is a bit grating, isn't she? And her friend…what's his name…Guppy."

Jane's laugh is raspy, still deep and growly from their almost sex earlier and Maura feels herself shiver involuntarily. "I'm pretty sure it's not Guppy, Maura."

Maura shrugs, pulling out a dark red dress, slit up the side. "Well, it's something like that…always yelling."

"Everyone on that damn channel is always yelling," Jane emerges from around the corner, dark pants and a tank top. She has a purple v-neck and her blazer over her arm. "Your daughter is supposed to be a genius, Maur. Why does she watch such crap TV?"

"Noah likes iCarly too," the doctor says, frowning at Jane's shirt and turning back to her wardrobe. "That's the shirt you're going to wear? I was going to wear red."

Jane raises an eyebrow at her wife. "So? Wear red. I don't think our body will mind that we haven't color coordinated."

"It is scientifically proven that looking at aesthetically pleasing color combinations boosts dopamine and-"

"Oh, my God, Maura," Jane raises her hands to the heavens, "why do I get trapped in this conversation at least once a week."

She disappears into her closet again. "What color shirt would you like me to wear, _darling?_"

Maura bites her lip, "Do you have a cyan?"

"English, Maura."

"Light blue? Sky blue?" There is a pause, like Jane is either looking or stalling, and Maura realizes with a little jolt why it might be taking the detective so long. "If you don't…"

"No, I do," Jane appears around the corner and holds it up. "I usually only wear it when Dr. Pike covers you," she says and then, with a sly grin, "because he says it makes my eyes look so pretty."

Maura laughs, pulling the dress over her head and spinning around.

"You joke all you want Rizzoli," she says spinning and gesturing that her wife should do her zipper. "When we run off together, see if I don't sue you for everything you're worth."

Jane laughs, and reaches out for Maura's zipper.

…

Frost is already at the scene when they get there. He smiles at them as they flash their badges and duck under the police tape.

The park on Boylston has been emptied of people, and a throng of curious bystanders are being contained a ways back as the women make their way towards the dark detective.

"What do we got, Frost?" Jane fist bumps him hello, and Maura nods at him.

Frost doesn't smile. "You're not going to like it."

"I'm not sure we ever _like_ murders, Barry," Maura says grimly, already pulling on her gloves.

Jane raises an eyebrow. "I don't know…remember the clown?"

Frost grins, "the murdered clown or the clown murderer?"

"You had a clown murderer?" Maura asks skeptically.

"Yeah!" Frost says, "You remember, it was before after Jane got det-" He stops abruptly, looking startled, "Oh, my God, no," he says, "You don't remember…You weren't back yet." He goes a little pale. "That means it was over…"

"Over twenty years ago," Jane fills in, "Yep."

"Oh, God," Frost says, grimacing. "I'm getting old."

"_Getting?" _Jane teases, and she ducks his punch. "We're old. Isabelle handed me my ass this morning, kids got an Olympic grade kick, I'm telling you." She smiles, but Frost face sobers.

Maura understands. "Oh, Barry," she breathes, "Is it a child?"  
Jane's eyes go wide, and Barry nods, pointing to a bench about twenty feet away. "Yeah, I think so, Doc. I can't read bones like you can, but I'm pretty sure."

"Damn it," Jane says sadly as they draw closer.

"Yeah," Frost agrees, looking pale. "I told you that you weren't going to like it."

"She's older than Bella," Maura says calmly, kneeling down beside the bench, and Both Jane and Frost know that that will be the last time she mentions her children. "Sixteen or seventeen."

"Still a baby," Jane says, and her voice is low.

"You smell her?" Frost asks, and Jane steps closer.

"Yeah…that's pot." She looks around at the ground. "So…comes out here to get high, and gets…what beaten up?"

"Strangled," Maura says, pulling aside the girl's turtleneck. "And look at her eyes."

Jane grimaces and Frost gags. "It's Subconjunctival hemorrhaging."

"It looks like a horror film," Frost says, taking a step back.

"It's most common in strangling victims."

Jane looks around, "Why doesn't SVU take this case? Kid in the middle of a park, strangled to death?"

Maura shakes her head, "She's over thirteen, and there are no signs of sexual assault." She stands, waving at the removal unit that she's ready to have them come in. "That makes it a homicide."

Jane stops walking suddenly, and bends down, picking up a little silver chain. On the end of the chain is a pendant. Frost comes over to look. "You think it's hers?"

Jane nods, pointing to the spot on the chain that is stained dark red. "Hers or her attackers…yeah."

"What a fucking shame," Frost says, "Sorry, Maur."

Maura shakes her head, brow furrowed. "She's missing the first day of school."

Jane puts her arm around Maura's shoulders, but doesn't say speak to that.

"Come on," she pulls Maura gently back towards the cruiser. "We're not doing her any good standing here."

And with that, the three of them set out across the lawn, back the way they came.

…

* * *

…

The doctor takes extra care stitching up the Y incision. She pushes the dirty blonde hair out of the teenager's eyes. Jane's text came about twenty minutes ago, and she expects the knock at the window any moment.

"Your parents are coming," she says quietly. "It's merciful that they didn't have to wait ages to find out where you are," she pauses. She knows that lots of people still talk about the way she speaks to her bodies. "And you must know that they know you love them," she says after a moment. "Even if the last thing you said to them was that you hate them."

The knock on her window comes, and Maura sighs, straightening up and heading in the direction of the sound. This is her least favorite part of the job. It has always been, even though the reasons have changed.

In the beginning, she hated this part because she did not know what to say to the loved ones on the other side of the glass. The parents and the sisters and husbands and wives, whose faces went from resolute disbelief to shock to terror to grief faster than she could turn away.

Some of them wanted to come in, wanted to touch their loved ones, hold onto them one last time, and she always felt as if she should say something. That as the medical examiner, she should offer something that could ease their pain. She could never think of anything, in the moment, and their anguish made her skin prickle.

Now she hates it because when she watches the mothers and fathers press their faces and hands against the panes of glass and start to sob, she understands their suffering.

And she knows there is nothing that can ease it.

The doctor pulls the blinds back on the viewing window. There is her detective, looking grim and sympathetic, and bracketed by a tall dark haired man and a short petite woman who Maura knows at once is the mother of the child on her table. She is the spitting image. She lowers her eyes and steps to the side.

Even braced for it, even though it might be the five thousandth time she's had to witness it, The doctor is still not ready for the parent's reaction.

Both husband and wife crumple, and Jane manages to catch the woman, her long fingers closing over the tiny arm, supporting her.

Maura can read her lips through the glass. _Alright…alright. I'm so sorry…Okay…I've got you…Alright._ She does not say it's okay, and when the woman throws her arms around Jane and begins to sob, the detective holds her back, unashamed, glancing at Maura through the glass, jaw tight. _Shut it,_ she mouths, and Maura pulls the curtain down on the scene.

For a moment, she just stands, looking at the neutral gray of the fabric that blocks the grieving parents from view. But then she turns back to the girl on her table. She sighs heavily, but smiles a little bit.

"We know who you are now, Melina," she says quietly, "and we're going to find out what happened."

...

Maura finds Jane at her desk, head in her hands, staring at nothing. She sits down in the chair next to her and reaches out to grip her wife's knee.

"Rough?"

Jane sighs, "They're divorced. Kid was supposed to be with the mother. Mom was out on a date," Jane says dully, "First one since the split. Can you imagine?"

Maura grimaces. "How awful," she says quietly.

"They tore each other apart. I finally had to get Frost to separate them. Couldn't ask anything that they wouldn't turn back on each other." Jane sighs and rubs her face, Maura squeezes her knee.

"It's misplaced guilt and over rationalization," she says, and Jane nods. "They're looking for someone to blame because blaming themselves hurts too much."

"I'm fuck-sorry. I'm sure it does."

"You don't think one of them did it?"

Jane shakes her head, "Nah. You saw the reaction. And the only thing they ever agreed on was custody," she sighs, "Fifty, fifty, straight down the middle."

"Unusual."

Jane nods, standing up. "Okay…well at least now we know who she is. Frost is grabbing her records and we're going to head over to the school, talk to the teachers…see if we can figure out who her friends are and then-" but Jane's phone buzzes and she breaks off, pulling it out and looking at it.

Her face goes pale.  
"This Is Jane Rizzoli," she answers, and Maura frowns at the uncharacteristic answer.

"Jane?"

But the detective puts up a finger, "Is she alright?"

Maura feels the earth shift. "Jane, is it one of the girls?" And it's times like these that she hates her job, because it makes it possible to imagine, with crystal clear precision, either one of her daughters on her own exam table. "Jane!" she says urgently.

"We'll be right there," Jane says, and she hangs up, and looks at Maura, bewildered.

"Who?" Language seems to be leaving the doctor, "She's okay? Which? Jane?"

"It's Sofia," Jane says, and they head towards the door simultaneously. "She's fine," Jane seems to be having trouble speaking as well.

"She…She got into a fist fight."

…

* * *

…

The ride home is tense and silent. Jane drives and Maura glances at her children in the rearview mirror.

Noah and Levi sit in the bucket seats in the first row of the SUV, both looking nervous, even though they are not the ones in trouble. Noah keeps stealing glances into the back seat, where Isabelle and Sofia sit, hand in hand. Isabelle has her head on her sister's shoulder.

Maura frowns at Sofia's reflection. Physically, she's a dark haired carbon copy of her mother, angular features and deep brown eyes, one of which is currently outlined in blue and purple.

But Jane and Sofia differ greatly in terms of personality. Both are quick witted and sharp tongued, but where Jane is sarcastic, Sofia is funny, opting for puns and plays on words. Both enjoy learning, but where Jane is hands on and nonchalant, Sofia could sit in a classroom forever. Both have short fuses, and carry grudges, but Jane's anger explodes, and Sofia's simmers, settling into tight lipped fury for days on end.

It is not like her to resort to physical violence, and it is even less like her to refuse to explain herself, especially when suspension is on the line.

"I'm hall monitor," Noah says suddenly into the silence. Maura turns around in her seat to smile at him.

"Congratulations, honey," she says and Noah smiles bashfully.  
"They made you hall monitor? You can barely monitor your shoelaces," Levi jokes, but he reaches out to slap his little brother five. "Congrats bro."

"That's great Noah," Isabelle says quickly, from the back. Sofia doesn't take her eyes from the window.

"Sofia, you wanna congratulate your brother?" Jane's voice is dangerous.

Sofia tightens her jaw, not saying anything. Jane opens her mouth to say more, but Maura puts her hand on her wife's thigh, stopping her.

"It's okay, Fee," Noah says, smiling hopefully back at her, "I know you're happy for me."

Sofia glances at her brother, and Maura can see that she's miserable. She turns her face back to the window, and nods once, curtly. Isabelle squeezes her hand, and Sofia tries not to cry.

Like her mother, she hates to cry.

.

All of the kids try to disappear as soon as the car engine is cut off.

"Homework, before dinner," Jane says as they scatter. "I don't care where you work, but you must be working."

Noah opts for the kitchen table and Levi, Isabelle and Sofia high tail it for the stairs.

"Sofia," Maura calls her daughter this time, instead of Jane. "Living room, please."

For a moment it looks like Sofia is going to flat out disobey her mother, but then she turns and does as she's told. Maura looks with wide eyes at Jane who shakes her head, just as baffled. Out of the four of their children, Sofia is the last one they would have suspected would ever act this way. Jane heads into the room behind her, and Maura notices Isabelle hovering on the landing, looking torn. Normally, she would be right behind her sister, trying to defend her. Maura catches her daughter's eye and Isabelle turns, scampering away. Maura frowns, but doesn't have time to think about it, because Sofia is screeching in the living room.

"I already TOLD you I don't want to _talk _about it."

Maura hurries into the living room and is met with her wife and her daughter, squaring off like lions.

"You have to tell us what happened, Sofia," Jane says, her own voice barely controlled. "They are going to suspend you!"

"YOU THINK I DON'T CARE ABOUT THAT?"

"Okay," Maura says, guiding her shaking wife into a place on the couch and gesturing that Sofia should sit down too. "Okay, let's calm down, everyone."

Sofia sits down slowly, glowering. Maura tries to collect herself, "Honey," she says to her daughter, "I think your mother and I are both a little shocked, is all. You're not the type of person who would just…attack someone for no reason."

Sofia's face softens a little. "I'm not."

Jane nods, "We know, nug," she says softly. "So tell us what happened. They can't rightfully suspend you if you were protecting yourself…or if something happened that led up to-"

"I didn't just punch Jacob for no reason," she says again.

Maura frowns, "Why _did_ you punch him, Fia?"

But Sofia sets her jaw, the same way she did in the principal's office. Maura sighs. "Did he say something to you or your sister? Something that upset you?"

Nothing.

"Did he threaten you?" Jane tries.

Nothing. Jane looks at Maura, at a loss.

The doctor is not much better off. "Fia, honey…you know the consequences for violence don't just end at school. If you can't provide us with a valid reason for hitting that boy, what are we supposed to think?"

Sofia's eyes narrow. "You're supposed to trust me," she snarls.

Jane leans forward, "We _do_ trust you, baby. Why won't you trust us? Whatever it is-"

But Sofia jumps up. "FINE!" she yells, "I hit him for no reason. I hit him for fun, because I just like hitting people, and he's an asswipe anyway."

"Sofia Emilie," Maura says, standing too. "Watch your language."

"And no, It's not fine," Jane says, though she doesn't stand. "You're grounded. For the length of your suspension, whatever that may be. And I need your phone."

Sofia looks outraged. "You are being _SO_ unfair."

Maura sighs, "You aren't helping yourself, sweetheart," she says, almost pleading. "If you would just-"

"YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND ANYTHING," Sofia cries, and she takes her phone out of her pocket and slams it hard onto the coffee table. "AND YOU SUCK."

They watch her run from the room and pound up the stairs. Jane runs her hand through her hair. "What's the date?" she groans, as Maura sits down next to her.  
"Excuse me?"

"We should mark the exact date and time that our daughter turns into me…for reference."

Maura leans over to kiss Jane's shoulder, "You say that like it's an awful thing," she says, and Jane looks around at her, eyebrows raised. "You didn't go around punching people for no reason, Jane," Maura clarifies, "And neither did she."

"What do you think, then?" Jane pulls Maura to her, kissing the side of her head.

"I don't know…did you notice when we were talking to her-"

"No Isabelle," Jane fills in. "Yeah. I did…Interesting."

Maura nods, "Very."

They sit, lost in thought for a moment, and then Jane's phone buzzes. "Rizzoli." Maura sits up, pushing herself of the couch. She heads into the kitchen, where Noah is looking at his cell phone.

"Strike one, kiddo," she says tapping the table, and he plops it down, turning back to his homework.

"Ma going out?"

"Sounds like it," Maura opens the fridge, "potatoes or pasta?"

"Pasta. You guys catch a case today?"

Maura nods, pulling out the chicken. "Almost the moment you left."

"Bummer, what's 9 times 7?"

"Nice try, sir. Figure it out."

"You're part of the Mensa Society!"

"Someone's going to have to take my place when I die. Nine times seven, Figure it out.

"Fifty?"

Maura smiles into the cabinet reaching for the pasta. She keeps her voice stern. "Don't guess. Higher."

There is silence, "Sixty…sixty two..three! Sixty three."

"Good boy."

Noah smiles, proud, and Maura ruffles his hair as she passes. She likes that he still does his homework nearby, even if it is in the hopes of getting her to do it for him.

Jane appears in the doorway as she's starting the water. "That was Frost. We've got a lead."

"I'll save you dinner," Maura says.  
"Thank you, love."

"Hey Ma!" Noah calls, "What's 96 divided by 12?"

"Seven hundred and thirty six," Jane says turning away with a grin.

"I am pretty sure that's wrong," Noah says glumly, looking down at the paper.

Jane chuckles. "Love you, little man. Don't eat all the chicken tonight."

"Ma?" She turns back to look at him, and Maura looks up."

"Yes, Noah?"

"I know Sofia didn't punch that boy without a reason. She's wouldn't do that."

Jane glances at Maura, and then comes over to Noah, kissing the top of his head. "Thank you, buddy," she says, and he grins at her. "Do your homework…yourself! Rizzoli Isles don't cheat."

"Yes ma'am."

Jane turns away again. "Love you both," she calls.

"Double it!" Both Maura and Noah call after her, and Maura smiles despite herself, as she hears the front door close behind her wife.

* * *

**Might as well jump right in...right?**


	3. Chapter 3

Neither Jane nor Frost think that Melina Ross' murder was random.

"A park she visits all the time? Smelling like pot?" Jane ticks off the reasons on her fingers as they drive to the home of Melina's best friend. "On a park bench facing the street? If it was random…why not hide the body. Or if it was deliberate…why not take it with you? Or make a statement."

Frost makes a face, gripping the steering wheel. "You have been doing this too long, Rizzoli," he says weakly, muttering under his breath. "take it with you…seriously?"

Jane chuckles.

"So, how is Sofia dealing with her suspension?" Frost asks, and Jane's face darkens a little at the change of subject. "How long is it again?"

"A week," Jane sighs, "and she's not saying anything about it."

Frost whistles low, "And Isabelle?"

Jane shakes her head, "Clams are bigger talkers."

Frost chuckles, "Well, give it time, Jane…It's not like you're new to this whole, punching kids who deserved it thing."

Jane grins, "Yeah, but I was always yelling about why, wasn't I?"

And Frost laughs this time, "Yes," he says, still smiling as they pull into the driveway of a nice house with a two car garage. "Yes you were."

…

The best friend's name is Amaya Moore, and when she hears that her lifelong friend has been murdered in a park six blocks from her home, her hand jumps up to her collar, forefinger and thumb pinching the shirt there, like a nervous tic.

"Melina? NO!" She says, collapsing into her mother's arms and starting to sob uncontrollably.

Frost raises an eyebrow at Jane, coming to stand next to her in the small living room.

"We're very sorry for your loss, Ms. Moore," he says, and at the father's gesture, he takes one armchair and Jane takes another.

"Sh-sh-she was my best…best…friend," Melina sobs from her mother's arms, and Jane's face is nothing but sympathy.

"I'm so sorry, Amaya," She says gently, "Mr. and Mrs. Moore. I wonder…could we ask you a few questions?"

The father nods, though the mother looks wary. "She's just had a terrible shock," she says, and her arms encircle protectively around her daughter.

Jane tilts her head almost imperceptibly. "I understand you want to protect your daughter, Mrs. Moore, but anything she can tell us might bring us closer to finding-"

"I'll tell you anything you want to know," Amaya says, sitting up and wiping her eyes. "What do you want to know about her?"

Jane glances at Frost who leans forward a little, "You and Melina knew each other for how many years?"

"Since we moved here when Amaya was seven," The mother cuts in again. "They became best friends immediately.

Jane raises an eyebrow at the mother, but directs her question at Amaya again, "And you two are in all the same classes at school?"

Amaya nods, "Except Biology," she sniffs. "I'm in advanced." Her finger traces a path along her lip and then she drops her hands to her lap. "Who am I going to sit with at lunch?"

Frost waits a beat, before asking, "Was there anyone who would want to hurt Melina?"

"No," the answer is short and definitive. "She was popular. She was the most popular girl in our grade." Amaya begins to tear up again, "And she still hung out…with…meeee," she dissolves back into her mother's arms, and Jane casts a meaningful look at Frost.

"She was popular?" Frost presses gently.

Amaya nods, "She was popular and everyone loved her...and she didn't...she didn't even care."

"Is there anyone who was jealous of her popularity?" Jane asks quietly.

Amaya starts like she's been shocked, "No!" she says, eyes wide. "You couldn't be-be jealous of Melina," she says earnestly, and tears pool in her blue eyes again. "She was my best friend," she says and her emphasis makes Jane frown. "I'm very sorry," she murmurs, standing up. She hands her card to the father as he sees them to the door. "Anything you can think of," she says quietly, "please give me a call."

They start back down the walk to the cruiser, but barely get three steps before the father is calling them back.

"Detectives?"

Jane and Barry turn, eyebrows raised.

"The past week or so, Amaya and Melina stopped walking home together," he looks guilty as he says this, like he knows he's betraying his daughter's trust. "They got in a fight…I think over some of the people…I mean….things Melina was into…It tore Amaya up."

Jane nods, turning this information over in her mind. "Thank you, Mr. Moore," she says after a moment. "Very much."

He nods curtly and heads back into the house.

Jane looks pissed as they climb into the cruiser. "You thinking boyfriend?" Frost asks as he starts the engine.

Jane nods darkly. "Yep."

.

The days drag by slowly, without a break in the case. Sofia spends a miserable week in the morgue with the doctor, cataloguing fracture patterns, and an even more miserable weekend logging bullet hole reports with the detective, and when Monday rolls around, she looks thoroughly happy to be getting on the bus with her siblings, although Maura notices that she does not choose a seat next to Isabelle.

Her light haired child seems completely at a loss about her twins change in attitude. She'd tried over breakfast to engage Sofia in their favorite past time, making fun of Noah's outfit, but she'd been met with a steely sort of indifference.

"What is going on with those two?" Jane whispers as their children disappear around a corner.

"I'm not sure even Isabelle knows," Maura says a little sadly, "But it's natural for twins to feel some separation angst as they begin to discover themselves more fully."

"Yeah?" Jane rolls her shoulders, "and what do your studies say about one twin becoming hostile and violent?"  
"Oh, Jane," Maura says gently, "She's not…She's just…"

"Becoming her mother," Jane says sadly. "I'd hoped all the time she spent in you would soften her a bit.

Maura pinches Jane lightly, "You've spent time in me too Jane," she whispers, watching dark eyes widen, "and it doesn't seem to have softened you a ton."

Jane sputters, torn between amusement and embarrassment, and Maura sneaks an arm around her waist.

"We'll figure out what's going on, sweetheart," she says quietly. "They're just having some growing pains…that's all."

Jane sighs, "I just love them," she says, and her tone suggests that this is the greatest blessing and the greatest curse she will ever know. "I just want them to be okay."

Maura smiles, a little more in love than she was five minutes ago. "They are," she says, squeezing Jane's waist reassuringly. "They will be."

...

The break in the case comes on Wednesday. Jane has just gotten the bad news from Maura that the necklace recovered at the scene holds only Melina's blood and fingerprints.

"So she pulled it off her own neck? That doesn't make any sense," Jane says tiredly, running a hand through her hair.

"I'm sorry," Maura says sitting down in the chair by the desk, "I went over every inch of it."

Jane nods, "I know you did, Maur…What does it say again? The necklace?"

"You," Maura responds, her brow crinkling. "In script. It's quite beautiful really."

"And quite ambiguous," Jane breathes. Maura nods sympathetically.

Just then, Frost and Korsak burst out of the tech room on the side of the precinct, both looking triumphant.

"How much do you love me?" Frost crows, moving to hook his laptop up to the projector.

"Hey!" Korsak says grumpily, "It was my find!"

Frost looks incredulous, "You said you liked the TV show Alias, which gave me the idea to look for Aliases.."

"Right!" Korsak says, smiling at Maura. The doctor laughs.

Frost narrows his eyes, "Okay then, _sir. _Why don't you explain how we found Melina's secondary facebook account?"

Korsak's look of triumph falters a little bit, "okay…well we…using some advanced techniques…and…the google…"

Frost roars with laughter, "_The _Google?" he cries. "THE Google. Oh lord."

Korsak looks miffed, "you could show your _chief_ a little bit of respect."

Frost laughs again. "My apologies, your highness."

Jane rolls her eyes, "Um, gentlemen…someone said something about a secondary facebook account?"

Frost nods, point at the projector as it comes to life.

"This facebook page is for Melina Ross," Frost says, pulling up the profile of their victim. "You'll see her profile picture is a school photo, she has all her activities listed, and some of her favorite books."

"The bible?" Jane scoffs, "Really? She's sixteen."

"Exactly," Frost says, "And all the pictures are just generic, single shots. The quotes are wholesome and vague."

Maura frowns. "She can't just be a good girl?" She asks indignantly.

Frost shrugs at her, "She could be, doc, but she's not." He presses a button and a new profile pops up, and its the same girl, but she's making a face, her middle finger up at the camera. "Say hello to Melina Malice."

"That's not even clever," Jane says, grimacing at the screen. "So this is her real profile? Any sign of the boy that tore up a friendship?

Frost nods, clicking away at his laptop, "Oh yes," he says, and he pulls up the profile of a tall dark haired boy, the beginnings of stubble on his chin.

"This is Jesse McNichol. High school senior...and total pot head."

Maura looks blank. "pot head?"

"Weed," Korsak fills in.

"Weed," Maura repeats... "Marijuana?" She looks back at the screen, "Ah, yes I see. His eyes."

Jane grins, "And the blunt in the foreground." She leans forward. "Okay, so Melina gets a new boyfriend and a new attitude... that sucks but it still doesn't mean he killed her."

"Truth," Frost says, "but this might." He pulls up a new screen and the detective and doctor are looking at a chat between Amaya and Melina.

**Mel: You don't know what you're talking about**

**Maya: You don't. You're head's so far up your ass you can't see day light**

**Mel: My, this isn't about Jesse. This is about you and me. You have to trust me on this. **

**Maya: You're full of shit. **

"Pleasant," Maura says.

"That proves the girls fell out," Jane says, "It doesn't prove he killed her," Jane says reasonably.

"Rizzoli's right," Korsak says, "You need more before you go after him."

Frost nods, "how about what he has written under 'life philosophy?'"

They all look around at the screen.

_All my life I want money and power_

_respect my mind or die from lead shower_

_I pray my dick get big as the eiffel tower_

_so can fuck the world for seventy two hours_

_god damn I got bitches, wifey girlfriend and mistress._

"Ugh," Frost makes a face. "A perfectly good Kendrick Lamar song...ruined."

"That's a perfectly good song? Comparing genitals to Parisian architecture?" Maura sounds scandalized.

_"_How about now, Korsak?" Jane asks, spinning in her seat.

Korsak nods, eyebrow raised. "See if you can catch him at his hang out," he gestures to a picture Frost has pulled up of a bunch of kids in an abandoned boat house.

Jane stands, gesturing to Frost. "Yes, _sir_," she says grinning. "Will you pick up Levi from practice, Maur?"

Maura stands to kiss Jane good-bye. "Be careful," she says and Jane flashes her a grin, grabbing her jacket off the back of her chair.

"I'm always careful," she calls.

Maura rolls her eyes.

...

But as it turns out, there is no sign of the boys at the boat yard, and after hanging around for a couple hours, Jane has Frost drive her home.

"Do you think I should go to the school? Ask them what's going on with Sofia and Isabelle?"

Frost sucks his teeth, "Do you think they even know?"

Jane sighs, "If one of my girls was seeing someone like Jesse McNichol, I would want the school to call me and tell me."

"That's not the school's job. Kids are gonna date. Some girls are gonna date unsavory dudes. It doesn't all end in murder."

"Sofia punched that boy for a reason."

"You think he was messing with Isabelle?"

Jane sighs again, a deep sort of sigh she remembers her mother heaving. "I don't know," she says rubbing her eyes. "We told them they couldn't have facebook accounts until high school. What if they create alter egos."

"Well Isabelle won't. You'll ask her and you'll know immediately if she's lying."

Jane grins, "true. She's worse than her mother, isn't she."

Frost nods, "And Sofia... she's a good kid Jane."

"She's been acting like me," Jane says sadly, and her partner glances at her as he pulls up in front of her house.

"Yeah," he says quietly, putting the car in park, "Like I said. She's a good kid."

And Jane looks grateful for the space of a second, before she punches the younger detective on the arm.

Jane pushes the door to the house open on a fight. She can hear Isabelle and Sofia, both yelling, and her wife's voice underneath them, calm, trying to smooth the anger.

Noah is on the stairs, listening with avid fascination, and Jane has to snap her fingers to get his attention.

"Homework," she mouths at him, and he skitters away. Jane rounds the corner into the living room, where her daughters are squaring off.

"You're being ridiculous," Isabelle says, sounding just like the doctor. "I don't understand-"

"That's just it!" Sofia screeches, "You don't understand anything! You're retarded!"

"Sofia," Jane says and the dark head whips around to take in the detective. "Watch what you say."

Sofia is half crouching half sitting on the floor, her foot in held up as she tries to work the anklet thats there off of her foot.

"Its true!" She yells, and Jane glances at Maura, who looks mildly shocked. "She might be smart, but she doesn't understand anything I say about anything." Sofia turns on her sister, "I don't want this stupid anklet on anymore. I'm not your best friend and if I could, I would take back that we were even sisters!"

Isabelle's green eyes get a little wet. She looks at the doctor.

"Sofia," Maura tries gently. "Honey, I don't see why you can't just explain what's bothering you to your-"

But Sofia gives up on the anklet jumping to her feet and pointing at Maura.

"Because she's _people stupid_, just like you!" Sofia cries, and Maura's eyes widen. "But I'm not her keeper like Mama is yours. I won't explain the _fucking_ world to her…I wo-"

But Jane advances on her daughter quickly, backing her into an armchair without so much as laying a finger on her, and Maura has never seen her look so fearsome. Never. Isabelle stands frozen, shock all over her delicate features. Maura gestures at her that she should leave the room. Isabelle cannot get away fast enough.

"Apologize to your mother," Jane's voice is deadly.

Sofia looks terrified. "I'm sorry," she says immediately, her eyes still on Jane.  
"Look at her," Jane orders, and Sofia shifts her eyes too look at Maura. The doctor wishes she wasn't a little teary. She wishes she could look as though the insult didn't hurt her.

"Apologize to your mother," Jane says again, each word even and furious.

"I'm sorry, mom," Sofia says, quieter this time, hinting towards tears.

"She's not going to say it's alright," Jane growls, "because it's not." And Jane would never lay one hand on her children, but at this moment Sofia looks like she would choose a beating over the deep disappointment and anger in her mother's voice. "What you said to your mother. What you implied about your sister, and your parent's relationship…" Jane looks momentarily lost for words, and Sofia's eyes widen as she realizes the deeper implications behind her outburst.

"I didn't-" she begins, but Jane puts up her hand, and Sofia might as well be mute. They stand there for a moment, Sofia trying to regulate her breathing, and Jane barely breathing at all, her anger making her still and silent, like a jungle cat. The silence stretches. Sofia fidgets. "I said I was-" she begins, but her tone is almost whining, and Jane will have none of it.

"Enough," she says, and her voice is rough and uncompromising, and Maura cannot think of a single person who would dare contradict that tone. "Are you going to tell us what is going on?" Jane asks lowly. Sofia looks at her feet. "Are you going to let us help you, or are you going to continue to suffer in silence and lash out at the people who love you?"

There is no answer, and if Sofia were looking up, she would see Jane's face crumble for a second, see the way that she looks scared and worried and close to tears, just for the space of a second.

But Sofia is looking down at her feet, and so only the doctor sees this.

Jane waits another beat, and her face hardens again. "Apologize to your mother."

If this request coming a third time confuses her, Sofia doesn't show it. She looks up at Maura. "I'm sorry, Mommy," She says quietly.

Maura nods, "I know you are."

"Give me your phone," Jane says, and the dark haired teenager obeys without question. Jane slips it into her pocket. "Go do your homework," she says, and Sofia doesn't need to be excused twice.

Jane watches her up the stairs and hears the door to the twins bedroom close before she turns to her wife.

"Maura," she says quietly, and there is an entire speech in the way Jane says her name.

"It's alright Jane," Maura says turning away. "I know she didn't mean-"

But Jane has crossed the room to hold her before she finishes her sentence, and the doctor leans into the embrace and allows herself to cry for just a moment.

"You are amazing." Whispered into her hair, and the answer to several foolish questions she'd been trying not to ask.

Maura shakes her head, "It's alright," She whispers into Jane's collarbone, "It's not…an inaccurate statement anyway, Jane. I am…inexperienced in the art of reading social situations…and even though she is much better adjusted than I was at her age," Maura pauses, thinking of her daughter, "Isabelle does seem to be a little lacking in that department…doesn't she?"

Jane shakes her head, holding Maura tighter. "She is kind and open sweet, and if she is naïve, it is in the best way possible. Alright?"

Maura wraps her arms around Jane's waist. "I'm very glad you're my keeper, if someone has to be."

She feels Jane tense and then relax, using her forehead to push and Maura's until she's looking up into gentle brown eyes.

"We keep each other," she says quietly, and it's the perfect, Jane thing to say, twisting the word to make it like family.

"She's not cruel, Jane…She didn't mean those things…she's-"

"Scared," Jane finishes. "She's really scared of something…"

"Do you think someone's going after Isabelle? Do you think that's what's happening?"

Jane shrugs, pulling away and sinking down onto the couch, "If that _is_ what's happening, going to Isabelle won't help, because," she pauses, looking up at Maura.

"She doesn't know," Maura nods, coming to sit next to her wife. "It's quite awful, you know." she says quietly, and Jane doesn't respond, just offers an arm for Maura to fold into. "Thinking that everything is going alright and then realizing that people have been laughing at you for months," Maura shakes her head, pressing closer against the warmth of the body next to her, "In Portugal, my classmates used male pronouns to address me for almost two weeks, until the teacher asked if all American boys dressed as I did."

It is a testament to how strong their love is, that Jane does not even smile.

"I thought they were my friends," Maura says, a little thickly, because she is remembering the way that the realization had felt like free falling off of a cliff. "I was blissfully unaware for a while, though."

Jane squeezes her gently. "I love you." All she has to offer.

"And if you had been there, you would have tried to protect me," Maura says, resisting the urge to arch her back, as the detective begins to play with her hair. "Sofia loves Isabelle. She's trying to spare her."

Jane huffs irritably, "But from what, Maur?"

The doctor shakes her head, "I don't know, sweetheart. But she felt the need to punch a boy in the face."

"A threat?"

"An admirer?"

Jane looks deep in thought, and then she seems to give up. They sit for a moment in silence, and then Jane's phone buzzes. She picks it up.

"Rizzoli," she says, and Maura looks at her watch. 6:45pm. "Where?" She kisses the side of Maura's head, "I'm on my way."

She stands, "They picked up McNichol for graffiti," she says and Maura stands with her, nodding.

"will you be home for bedtime? Even Levi comes down to listen to this one." In place of singing, the children have opted to be read to, and even though they now have three high school age children, none of them miss a couple chapters before bed. "It's Watership Down," Maura says.

Jane hugs her. "I'll be home for bedtime. Tell Fiver and Hazel to wait for me."

Maura grins. "Remember what matters most, Jane Rizzoli," she says quietly as her wife descends the steps to the sidewalk.

Jane looks around at her, and her signature grin evident in the fading light and Maura doesn't need to be an expert at reading people to know what that smile means.

* * *

**Best Friends Forever Pt. I**


	4. Chapter 4

"I said that seemed very hard. Our request was surely a reasonable one. And I was just going to ask them to consider one or two things from our point of view, when another of the councilors—a very old rabbit—said, 'You seem to think you're here to argue with us and drive a bargain. But we're the ones to say what you're going to do.'"

Jane stands in the hallway just outside her room, listening to the lively and excited voice of her wife as she reads to their children. She'd promised to be home in time for the story and she's just made it, using the siren on the way home for good measure. But she lingers out of sight, listening, imagining her children, all crowded onto the extra-large bed, Noah half asleep because Watership Down has not really grabbed his attention. Levi, pretending not to be engrossed, lying lengthwise at the foot of them bed.

Jane smiles, and rounds the corner, looking in, though she doesn't cross the threshold. Her interview of Jesse McNichol is still too fresh in her mind, and she smells like pot and bad coffee and she does not want to taint the scene in front of her with police work.

Maura glances up at the movement, and flashes as smile at her detective. Four sets of eyes that were trained on the doctor's face flick over to Jane as well. She waves and they smile, but no one says anything. No one wants to break the moment. Maura looks back down at the page.

"'Animals don't behave like men,' he said. 'If they have to fight, they fight; and if they have to kill, they kill. But they don't sit down and set their wits to work to devise ways of spoiling other creatures' lives, and hurting them. They have dignity and animality."

Jane crosses to the master bath as quietly as she can, listening. She has always been awed at her wife's ability to choose a book that both transports their children to a different world, and yet speaks directly to their challenges. She turns on the shower and climbs out of her work clothes, listening to the muffled voices of her family. She would smile if the case wasn't weighing so heavily on her shoulders. She hates interrogations at night, that eat into her family time, that leave her wound up and at a dead end, and tonight is no exception. The teenager that she and Frost questioned a couple hours ago had founded all of her worst fears about teenage boys, especially as they relate to teenage girls. _Her_ teenage girls.

She twists the shower nob so that the shower is as hot as it will go and steps under, gritting her teeth. She tries to ground herself, focus on the fact that she is here and she is home and home is the place she wants to be the most, but every time she blinks, the thin, sallow face of Jesse McNichol floats up behind her eyes.

* * *

_Jesse is wearing a necklace with a little silver pendant that reads "you." Jane catches Frost's eyes and tilts her head at it as she shuts the door of the interrogation room. _

_"Nice necklace, Jesse," she says dropping the case file onto the table. _

_Jesse leers at her through red rimmed eyes, and she can feel him taking in everything from her tight ponytail, to her hands on her hips, to the rounded toe of her boots. "Thanks," he says, inspection over, "It was a present from my girlfriend," he pauses, "you must know how that is."_

_Frost takes a step forward, but Jane shakes her head, grinning. "It's okay, Frost, I'm pretty sure we're both getting more action than this little shit." _

_Frost manages to cover up his shock. Jesse McNichol does not. He sputters, caught off guard. "Y-you can't talk to me like that! I-I'm like...the law like..." He casts about, and Jane throws an amused look at Forst. _

_"I'm like. protected by the law and lawyers and shit." _

_"You hear that, Jay?" Frost laughs meanly, "He's protected by shit." _

_Jesse looks furious. Jane sits down across from the boy, wondering momentarily what would have happened to her sons if they hadn't taken them in, or, worse, if they had been raised by their kidnapper. "Not even shit can protect you now, Jesse," she says grimly, and the teenager squares his shoulders, attempting bravado. _

_"What do you know, bitch?" _

_"I know what the twin of your pretty little necklace says. We picked it up off your girlfriend. We found her in the park, where you left her." _

_Jesse spits onto the concrete floor of the room. "So? Fucking good for you. It's not a crime to leave a girl somewhere." _

_"You better lose that attitude," Frost says, moving over from the corner, "You are putting yourself deeper into a world of hurt." _

_"I didn't do anything!" _

_Jane raises an eyebrow, glancing at Frost. "Well, goodie! I guess we can let him go, then! I wish all my murder suspects were as honest as you!"_

_And Jesse's face goes pale. Jane had not been expecting that. "Wait what? Murder? Amaya is dead?"_

_"No," Frost sits leans down so that his mouth is close to Jesse's ear, "You're little girlfriend is. Melina."_

_Jesse frowns, looking back and forth between Jane and Frost, and for a moment, he looks truly perplexed. But then he seems to understand something, and the smirk reappears._

_"I get a lawyer, don't I? I ain't got nothing more to say." _

* * *

Jane exits the bathroom twenty minutes later to find Maura alone in bed, still on top of the covers, looking over a medical report.

"I did not smell that bad," she says, and Maura chuckles, holding out her arms. Jane falls into them gratefully, sighing as Maura traces kisses around the outside of her ear.

"They are loving that book," Maura says quietly. "You should think about joining us sometime, Jane."

"Eh, rabbits…" Jane trails off at her wife's expression. "I'm sorry, Maur. I made it home on time…I just couldn't plop down into bed smelling like…teenage boy and…"

But Maura places a gentle kiss on her lips and she loses her train of thought and her remaining grumpiness.

"Love you," she offers, when the doctor pulls away.

"I know you do. I love you too. Now, go say goodnight to your children and come to bed."

Jane laughs and pushes off the bed, "Yes ma'am," she says, but Maura does not appear to hear her. She has flipped the report back open and is reading with a little frown on her face. Jane turns away, and she is almost to the door when she hears Maura mutter.

"Pike! The older he gets the less sense he makes…I have got to let that man go."

Jane grins.

.

Her boys are easy, all "good night, mama's," and "I love you's" Noah snuggles under his covers and lets her kiss his freckly forehead.

"You'll get the bad guys, Ma. I know it," he says sweetly, and for a moment she longs for the times when he was small enough to hold, and she would dance him to sleep in the kitchen, in the hours of the morning when it was still dark.

"Love you buddy."

"Can T.J. come for dinner tomorrow?"

"By himself?"

"Lydia and Tommy have an appointment."

Jane sighs, "Yes, that's fine."

"Love you, Ma."

"Double it. Go to sleep."

Sofia is alone in the twin's room when Jane knocks on the door. Jane glances around, just to make sure. "Where is your sister?"

Sofia doesn't look up. "Guest room."

Jane raises her eyebrows. "Is this a permanent change?"

Sofia shrugs.

The detective stands in the door way for a moment, and the silence stretches out between them, palpable and physically uncomfortable. For a moment, Jane considers saying good night, and leaving well enough alone, but she finds she cannot leave.

She crosses the threshold.

"I punched a boy in the face once, when I was about your age." Jane speaks into the prickly silence, and Sofia jumps, but doesn't look around at her.

"just _one_ boy?" Her tone is more mocking than playful, but Jane doesn't take the bait. She knows her brothers can't resist telling tales about her.

"Okay, more than one…" she pauses and then decides on the whole truth, "More than five," she says but when Sofia looks around at her, she doesn't grin. "But there was only one that mattered."

"Which one?" the teenager looks back down at her hands. "Was it for mom?"

Jane frowns, "_for _her? You mean, to protect her?" the detective pauses, trying to think of the best way to answer. "Yes," she says finally, "I suppose at the time, I thought I was protecting your mother. And avenging your uncle Frankie."

Sofia doesn't answer or ask any more questions, she just keeps looking down, but Jane takes it as a good sign that she's not yelling or demanding that her mother leave her alone. She swallows.

"You know what, Sofia?" two deep dark eyes look up at her curiously. "That's not true, what I just said. It wasn't about either of those things."

Surprise. "It wasn't?"

Jane shakes her head, "No. I was frightened."

For a moment, Sofia looks stunned, then she laughs, as raspy as her mother. "Come on, Ma, you were not scared. Uncle Frankie says you are never scared of anything, ever." She looks up at her mother, smile fading when she sees the somber look on the detective's face. "You're serious?"

Jane's grin is tremulous. "Yes."

"What were you scared of?"

"Joe Grant called me a dyke," Sofia's face goes as steely as Jane has ever seen it, "in front of an entire park full of our friends. In front of your mother. I hadn't told anyone...that that's what I was...not yet."

"You're not a _dyke_, Mama," Sofia interrupts, her voice around the derogatory term is hard, like it's sharp on her tongue. "You just love your doctor."

Jane is too overcome for a moment to say anything. It's what they used to say to the kids when they were too young to understand sexuality. _Mommy just loves her detective, Mama just loves her doctor. There's nothing wrong with love, babies._

"Right," Jane says, a little thickly, and Sofia has the decency to look away while her mother composes herself. "Right, well, I was scared…in that moment, because…" She pauses again gathering herself. "Because I thought Joey's declaration would lose me the best friend I'd ever had."

Sofia looks around with wide eyes. "You mean Mommy?"

The detective nods, "I didn't know how she felt about me, but I knew I loved spending time with her, hanging out with her, just being around her, and…I thought if she knew about me, she wouldn't be my friend anymore. That it would…."

"Change everything," Sofia fills in quietly, and Jane knows by the look on her child's face that the story she's picked is the right one.

"Yeah," she replies, just as quietly, "and I didn't want anything to change between us." She leans over and takes Sofia's hand in her own, "But honey, whether we like it or not, things change. And sometimes…they change for the better, Sof, you-"

But whatever moment they might have almost had seems to be over. Sofia pulls away from her mother and stands angrily.

"You don't know what you're talking about," she says and her voice betrays tears, even though her eyes are dry.

Jane stands too. "I know more than you might think, if you would just give me a chance to-"

"Just because Nona wasn't a good mother until you got old doesn't mean I need you in my business."

"Alright, _enough_," Jane growls, and Sofia barely breathes, waiting. She looks torn between agony and fury. Jane knows that tearing better than anyone, but she will not raise a child who is ungrateful. "You do not get to waltz around this house…_wounding_ people, Sofia!"

They square off, and if Sofia had seven more inches and a little more bulk, they could be twins. Jane glares at her daughter, trying to keep her cool. She takes a deep breath.

"Were you trying to protect your sister?"

"Yes." Clipped.

"From what?" Jane can play that game, if she has to.

"I can't tell you."

"Was she in danger?"

"I…can't tell you."

"You have to tell me something."

Sofia's glare is near perfection. "I don't have to tell you anything."

Jane switches tact immediately. She has found that living with teenagers is like living in an interrogation room filled with suspects. She adapts.

"Fine," she says now, shrugging her shoulders, "I'm a detective. I figure things out for a living, so let me tell you what all the evidence adds up to…shall I?"

"Ma," a warning Jane has given her own mother too many times to count. She ignores it.

"We get a call from the school saying you've punched a boy in the eye. You refuse to tell us why, even to save yourself from suspension. This doesn't add up because you love school." Jane moves to her daughter's desk, looking at a photograph of the twins at the beach in Cape Cod, seven years old and beaming. Jane frowns. "Your partner in crime, and twin, and best friend, is nowhere to be seen, except to come to Mom in private and asked that you not be punished," Jane glances at Sofia when she says this, and is gratified to see shock and a little guilt creep over her features. "You then proceed to be horrible to everyone, from your youngest brother, to both of your parents, when they are only trying to support you. You try to remove an anklet that you and your sister have had on for the majority of your lives."

"_Ma_," Sofia growls, but Jane holds up her hand, signaling that she is almost through.

"There are two options that I see here," She says ticking them off on her fingers. "One, this boy has threatened your sister in some way, and you went to her defense. This explains your atrocious behavior in the living room,"

Sofia doesn't answer, her jaw is set. She is unmovable.

"Two," Jane says, and her tone does not betray her worry or her doubt, "You are in love with this boy," Sofia looks up angrily, but seems unable to form a coherent sentence, "and he prefers your sister. This also explains your outburst, if Isabelle is oblivious to this boy's affect-"

"I DO NOT LOVE JACOB. HE'S SCUM. HE'S A COMPLETE ASS. HE DOESN'T CARE ABOUT IZ AT ALL."

Jane raises her eyebrows, but doesn't say anything. She just waits. Sofia takes a shuddering breath.

"He found out about her, and he told his stupid basketball buddies and they were laughing with her in the hall. Making jokes and stuff, and she didn't get any of them. She thought it was funny too. She thought she was in on it…not…"

"The butt of it," Jane finishes, nodding. She can picture Maura perfectly in the bullpen, mouth curled into a curious little smile, while some asshole cop from narcotics asks her if she's a top or a bottom. "I get it, Fi," she says quietly. "You were protecting her." Jane knows her daughter well enough not to ask from what. Not yet.

"I don't want things to change. I don't want her to change," Sofia sits down heavily at her desk. "I want her to stay the same. I don't want her to understand what those kids were saying."

Jane comes to sit down next to her, and this time, when she takes her daughter's hand, Sofia squeezes back. "It's gonna be hard enough for her, Mama. Can't I just give her…another year? Half of one?"

Jane kisses the hand that she's taken, just a miniature version of her own. And she has always loved this child with a deep and aching ferocity. But now she respects her too.

"What did Jacob find out?" She asks, though she already knows the answer, deep down.

Sofia sighs, like resignation. Like relief.

"He saw Isabelle kissing Mckenzie Brown," she says. "They're girlfriends."

.

Jane waits for half a beat before nodding. "I have to tell Mom."

"I know," a pause, "Do you have to tell Isabelle we know?"

"She doesn't know?"

Sofia shakes her head sadly. "She thinks it's still a secret. She's…scared, I think." Sofia rolls her shoulders, and Jane has to work hard not to mimic the action. She considers.

"Alright, I don't have to talk to Isabelle, but-"

"and you'll keep Mom away?"

Jane laughs, "Yes, and I will keep your mother away, but you have to promise me something Sofia,"

The teen looks apprehensive, "What?"

"You have to tell your sister we love her. That we love her and support her no matter what, got it?"

"But she doesn't know I know!"

And Jane smiles and kisses the side of Sofia's head, standing and heading back to the bedroom.

"Then you better be smooth when you work it into conversation," she says over her shoulder. And with that, Jane heads out into the hall and back down to her bedroom.

* * *

…

Maura's face drops into one of almost comical surprise. For a moment, they just stand on opposite sides of the bedroom, looking at each other.

"She was…kissing…"

"And that little shit Jacob was telling everyone, and they were all laughing at her and calling her names behind her back," Jane says furiously. Maura doesn't respond to this. She sits down on the bed her face cloudy and troubled. Jane comes to squat in front of her, confused.

"Did you hear me, honey? Fia's not a psycho, and Isabelle doesn't feel threatened at school. Everything's okay."

Maura's eyes focus on Jane's, angry an wet. "Everything's okay? They're making fun of her, Jane!"

"She didn'tknow that's what they were doing, Maur. And Sofia took care-"

"That's what makes it better? She didn't _know?_ What happens when she finds out?" Maura's eyes are wide and panicked, and Jane acts without conscious thought, standing and pulling Maura up and into her arms. It does not happen often that they are so apart in their reactions, and it happens even less often that Maura is the more emotional one, but Jane still knows her part and she murmurs comfortingly into the dark blonde hair, running her fingers through the strands, the way she has so many times before.

"Oh, Oh Jane, I'm sorry," muffled against her shoulder, and Jane pulls back to look into her favorite set of deep green eyes.

"What for, honey?"

"I…because...I...I wish it were Sofia," the doctor says this so lowly that Jane almost doesn't catch it, and even when she has worked out what her wife has said, it takes her a moment to find meaning.

"You…what…oh. _OH..." _she pauses, still a little confused.

"She's tough like you," Maura says, and she's getting choked up again. "She's tough and brave, and she'll punch those boys that... and Isabelle is…is…"

"Tough, and brave, like you," Jane says quietly, "And when she realizes that some people may be making fun of her, she'll use her superior brain power to put those creeps in their places. Like you did with Deacon, remember?"

Maura almost smiles, "I have to talk to her." She moves to step around Jane.

"You…can't," Jane says, cutting her off.

"What?" Maura tries again, and Jane cuts her off again, so that it's like they are dancing.

Jane bites her lip, "You can't, talk to Isabelle, not yet."

Maura looks perplexed and a little annoyed. "She's _kissing _another girl, Jane. She's got a _girlfriend! _I will most certainly-" but Jane blocks her movement again, and Maura huffs impatiently.

Jane takes the doctor firmly by the shoulders. "She doesn't know that we know, honey, we have to give her time to figure-"

"How can she not know that we know?" Maura stops trying to get around Jane, and the detective lets her go. Quickly, before she can decide to make another break for the hall, Jane recounts her conversation with Sofia, and Maura's face softens from concern into affection at the story. As Jane finishes up, she turns back to the bed, sitting down.

"And I told her she has to find some way to convey to her sister that we love her, that there's nothing she could bring to us that would make us turn her away."

After a moment, Maura nods, "do you think she'll come? Soon?"

Jane sighs, sitting down next to her, "I don't know, Maur. We don't know a lot of things."

"Like how long it's been going on," Maura says.

Jane nods, "If this other girl is a good kid."

"If Bella has put any type of label on herself yet." Maura turns to look at Jane, and she runs the pendant around her neck back and forth on its chain. "I don't like not knowing things," she says quietly, and Jane nods, her eyes following the little silver circle as Maura pulls it back and forth, up to her lips, back down to her chest. The detective frowns, something niggling at the back of her mind.

"…and when one twin is gay, there's a fifty two percent chance that…"  
Maura is still talking, but Jane is looking at her necklace. There's something about the motion that makes her think of the case.

"Jane…are you listening to me?"

She makes a noncommittal sound, still thinking hard, and Maura sighs, like she knows this is not the truth. "Poor Sofia," she says absently, She must feel so conflicted…she wants to protect her sister, but she wants to…_protect_ her sister. No wonder she wanted to take the anklet off…It must feel like a betrayal…" Maura presses the little pendant on her necklace against her throat, before letting it go, and Jane's eyes widen.

It clicks.

She looks up at her wife, mouth opening and closing wordlessly.

"Jane?"

"Betrayal," she says, and Maura looks back at her, blank.

"Yes?"

"Betrayal!" She jumps up, excited, and Maura stays on the bed, looking up at her detective curiously.

"Yes…we've covered-"

"The _necklace! _Maura! Oh My God!" She runs her hands through her hair, trying to pull all the pieces together through the euphoria of sudden realization. "Oh, my God," she repeats, and Maura makes an exasperated noise, waiting for Jane to regain her vocabulary.

"Maura!" Jane says again.

"Yes, darling." Maura says, half amused now. "Tell me."

Jane grins and grimaces at the same time.

"I know who killed Melina Ross."

* * *

**Best Friends Forever Pt. II**

**Thank you so so much for your kind words and thoughts and vibes here and on tumblr as I go through this tough time. There's not a day that goes by that I don't think of all of you and wish I could produce faster for you. But I won't abandon a story, so...don't lose heart. **


	5. Chapter 5

"So the new development seems to be that Bella knows her sister knows…but doesn't know we know." Jane sighs.

Frost wrinkles his nose, "So, you know, and Sofia knows you know. But Bella thinks only Sofia knows? She doesn't know you know?"

Jane pauses for a moment, replaying the sentence in her head, and then nods, as Maura chuckles. "Yes…you got it."

Frost shakes his head. "No children for me. Not ever," he says, "too complicated."

Maura prods his shoulder from the back seat, "you're sure? Alissa's still young enough. Biologically speaking she has another five to seven years before her fertility-"

But Frost brings the car screeching to a halt, even though there is not a stop sign or a red light in sight. He clutches at his heart while Jane roars with laughter.

"Doc," he says, weakly, "please."

"That's what you get, for robbing the cradle, partner," Jane teases, turning around to fix her wife with a conspiratorial grin. "Does Alissa want kids?"

Frost shrugs, smiling, "she is eight years younger…that's hardly a crime and…" he pauses, considering, "I don't know, we haven't discussed it."

"Well are you two using birth control?" Maura asks innocently from the back of the car.

This is greeted by a splutter from Frost and a "MAURA!" from Jane.

"What?" Maura asks, eyes wide, "It's a valid question."

Jane shakes her head trying to hide a grin. "It is none of our business," she says firmly.

"Well," Frost glances at her in the rearview mirror "We have been using-"

"NO!" Jane says waving her hands wildly. "No, no, let me rephrase. You guys can talk all about this in the little girl's room when we get back to the precinct. _I _do not want to know."

And Maura and Frost exchange smirks, before attempting to change the subject.

They've just come from the high school, following up Jane's theory by questioning some of Melina and Amaya's friends. Maura had opted to come along, unable to simply sit and wait around for the test results that might condemn a child to murder.

The interviews they'd conducted hadn't made her feel any better. No one had anything mean to say about either girl. _Best friends. Always together. Melina was super popular, but she never left Amaya behind. Amaya's so smart. Both are so friendly. _It had gone on like that until the last kid they'd spoken too.

"You knew Melina?" Jane always sounded so intimidating when she was questioning.

The scrawny kid had nodded, pushing his glasses up his nose, "Yeah, she stopped a group of jocks throwing me in the trashcan once."

Jane frowns, "What about Amaya, you know her?"

And the kid had scowled back at her, "Yeah…manipulative," he'd mumbled.

"How's that now?" Frost had prompted, stepping forward.

He'd shrugged, "She was mad smart, and hot, you know? but that innocent act wasn't really fooling anyone. Everyone knew she was sleeping around."

"And Melina didn't care?" Jane had asked sharply.

The kid looked incredulous, "Course she cared. But what could she do about it?"

.

"That doesn't make Amaya a bad child," Maura argues, now as Frost pulls up in front of the precinct. She knows why she doesn't want Amaya to be the bad guy, but she's not about to admit it now. Jane glances back at her, tiny frown on her face, "We've been doing this long enough to know that not all murders are premeditated…or even voluntary."

Maura sighs. "You're wrong," she says, hoping against hope that she will soon have the test results to prove it.

...

were right, Jane." Maura rounds the corner with the results in her hand. She knows she looks pale and unsteady, and the detective does the smallest of double takes as she stands to come over to her.

"Her fingerprints are on his necklace?"

"There's a perfect seven point on the pendant," Maura says sadly. "That indicates that she was the last person to touch it. At least that part of it."

Jane nods, her eyes lingering for a little longer on the doctor before turning back to her partner. "Because she has the same nervous tick that Maura has," She says to Frost, who is frowning at her.

"I don't follow," he says.  
Jane gestures at Maura's chest and presses her thumb and forefinger, running them along her own collarbone. "When she gets nervous, she runs her necklace along it's chain…like this." Jane watches Frost's face for understanding. "She did it on the sofa, when we interviewed her"

"But she wasn't wearing a necklace," Frost replies, still looking baffled.

"Exactly!" Jane says, "Because she gave it away, She turns to the projector, "Pull up Melina's profile. The secondary one."

Frost turns to the computer and does as she instructs, pulling up the picture of Melina scowling at the camera. "Okay, look, there, she's wearing her necklace…And Amaya's in the background…she doesn't have one." Jane frowns, "Can you pull up something less recent, Frost? Something from a couple months ago?"

Frost shuffles for a second and then pulls up a picture of the girls together in the middle of a field, a soccer field judging by their matching uniforms. They are both proudly sporting medals around their necks, smiles wide, arms around each other.

And there, glittering in the sun, underneath the red ribbons of their medals, are matching silver pendants.

Frost gapes. Maura feels her stomach sink even more. She hadn't wanted this to be true.

"So..." Frost is trying to put the dots together, Jane nods, waiting. "So…Jesse McNichol's necklace belonged to…to Amaya?"

Jane nods, encouraging. Frost rubs the back of his neck… "She gives Jesse her necklance…why? You think Melina asked her? You think Jesse took Amaya's place in Melina's life?"

But Jane shakes her head. "I don't think Melina was dating him," she says slowly. "I think Amaya was."

Frost looks incredulous, but Jane presses on. "pull up the chat of their fight again," she says, and when it appears on the giant screen she points at it. "What if we read it wrong? What if Amaya's dating Jesse?"

All three of them look up at the chat.

**Mel: You don't know what you're talking about**

**Maya: You don't. You're head's so far up your ass you can't see day light**

**Mel: My, this isn't about Jesse. This is about you and me. You have to trust me on this. **

**Maya: You're full of shit. **

Maura sighs. It works this way too. Frosts eyes are huge. "Amaya was dating Jesse."

Jane nods, glancing at Maura, "And Melina was trying to talk her out of it."

"Oh Shit!" Frost says, "Sorry, Maur…What did Jesse say when we question him?"

Jane nods, indicating that her train of thought has been going that way too, "he said it wasn't a crime to leave a girl in a park. We assumed he was talking about Melina, which would have made him stupid…but what if he was talking-"

"About Amaya!" Frost slaps his head, finally on board. "Holy shiiiips," he amends, and Maura rolls her eyes, feeling like she has been plunged underwater. Her team is right…this story makes more sense than any that they've thrown out in the past week and a half.

But she hears herself speaking into the silence before she knows what's happening. "There could be other narratives here," her voice sounds reasonable enough, even if her heart is racing. "You are leaving a lot up to imagination."

Frost nods, sitting down at the computer, "You're right, Doc," he says, very used to her cautioning by now. But Jane looks at Maura hard, trying to read her.

Maura turns half away, not willing to discuss her discomfort in the bullpen. "They're awfully young," she says, when Jane continues to look at her. "And studies show that girls don't often have that level of violence…not unless they have some form of trauma in their backgrounds."

"I don't know, Maur," Frost says from behind his computer, "You didn't hear Amaya and the way she talked about Melina's popularity. How everyone wanted to sit with her at lunch…how they were best friends," he taps at the keys, not looking up as he continues, "You know what high school is like. She probably met Jesse, and suddenly she has something Melina doesn't have…and then her homegirl tries to talk her out of it?"

Maura opens her mouth…and then shuts it again. Yes, she knows what high school is like.

"You're right, Maura, there could be other answers," Jane says quietly, and the doctor hates the understanding she hears in her wife's voice.

"Explain why only Melina's prints are on her own necklace, then," she says, aware that her tone is belligerent, and not trying to do anything about it.

"I can't," Jane says gently.

Maura hates the rush of vindication she feels, but it is extinguished almost immediately as the image of Sofia and Isabelle fighting comes to mind, Sofia tugging at the anklet around her leg, hell bent on giving it back to the person she _thought _was her best friend.

"Oh God," Maura says, and both Jane and Frost look around at her.

"Maur?" Jane takes a step closer, but Maura turns back towards the elevators.

"I have a great deal of work to get through," she says, hoping her tone is hard enough to be clear. And it must be because as she clicks away to the elevator, she does not hear the thud of Jane's boots behind her.

...

* * *

...

Maura runs. She doesn't check her phone to see how far away the detective might be, and when she reaches the park, she doesn't stop and listen for sirens. She jumps out of her SUV and runs towards the path that leads to the soccer field, cursing the fact that there is no way to drive directly there. The number that called had been unfamiliar, and the boy that had answered when she'd picked up had not been her son.

"Yes, this is Dr. Isles, who is speaking please?"

"It's Finn…Lee's friend? You better come to the park, There's a fight! He's gonna kill that kid!"

Vague as only teenage boys can be. It doesn't matter. Maura heard her child, heard "kill," and "park" and she was running before she can hang up the phone, speed dialing Jane in the car and screaming something she could only hope was coherent.

Now as she runs up the path, she can hear the shouts of the kids growing louder, chanting the one word that has not changed in the thirty plus years since she was a child. _Fight! Fight! Fight!_

Maura speeds up.

...

_"We just have a couple more questions for your daughter Mr. Moore. It won't take long at all." Jane tries to put on her best concerned parent face, and it must work, because the man steps aside to let her and her partner into the house._

_"Is there a place we could speak to Amaya?" _

_The father nods placidly, and Jane has a twinge of guilt, for what she is about to do. _

_"Sure," he says, gesturing them through the hall way, "Dining room is right through here" _

...

Maura has always been good at assessing the damage. About looking at a crime scene and knowing what needs to be done and in what order. But as she approaches the scene, pushing boys and girls out of the way to get to the middle of the fight, she feels herself get lightheaded.

Levi on his knees, with a boy in a choke hold. Sofia bloody nosed and wild haired, her arm around her sister, and her other hand out protectively, shielding a petite brown haired girl.

A very tearstained MacKenzie Brown.

...

_"What necklace?" Even as she says this, she gives herself away, her forefinger and thumb coming up to grasp at nothing. _

_Jane pulls out the picture, "You and Melina used to wear these," she says, watching her face closely. She wishes Maura were here to aid her. "And now yours is gone, and Melina's was ripped off of her before she died." Jane pauses, watching Amaya struggle with impassivity. "I think she ripped it off herself," Jane says quietly, and the girls eyes shoot up to meet her. "I think she ripped it off and threw it at you…when she realized you gave yours away to Jesse McNichol." _

_..._

"Levi! Levi let him go," Maura stands in the middle of the group of children, already beginning to scatter, some primal instinct telling them not to hang around once an adult has arrived. "Levi, let him go."

The smaller boy is struggling to get free, but Levi doesn't obey his mother. He looks back at her with hard blue eyes, and Maura watches his muscles flex slightly, holding the boy in place.

"Levi," she says, glancing at her daughters, at Sofia's look of fury, and Isabelle's terror. "Levi, let him go."

But Levi shakes his head. "No," he says calmly. "I'm not hurting him. Not really. And I'm going to hold him here until Ma gets here." He looks up into Maura's stunned face, his own features stony.

"I'm going to hold him until Ma gets here to arrest him for touching my sisters."

...

_"You were giving a necklace to some boy? That necklace? You and Melina picked those out together," Mr. Moore looks around at Jane, his polite curiosity slipping into suspicion. "Cost them a fortune, but they were dead set. Saved for weeks." He looks at Frost, who is studying the hard oak of the table. _

_"What is this?" he asks suddenly. "Why are you asking about that necklace." _

_"We know you gave it to him," Jane says to Melina, and the girl looks away. "Your finger print is on the pendant. We know it's yours." Melina shakes her head, but no words come out of her mouth. "You gave it to Jesse because he was your boyfriend, didn't you? And Melina didn't like that." _

_But Mr. Moore leans across the table to get Jane's attention. "You've got it wrong. Amaya is a good girl. She doesn't date and she certainly wouldn't hang around with some boy and not tell us…She's just a kid. She doesn't…she doesn't date." _

_Jane is going to respond, but before she can, Amaya slams her hand down onto the table, her face red and furious. "I AM NOT A LITTLE GIRL," she yells, and her father looks shocked. Amaya lowers her chin. _

_"And yes…I do." _

_..._

Maura moves towards Isabelle and Sofia. "Honey," she tries to keep her voice from shaking. "Sofia come here, let me see your nose. Bella, sweetheart, are you okay?"

But Isabelle pulls away from her sister and turns to MacKenzie, throwing her arms around the smaller girl with enough force to almost knock her over.

Maura stands with her hands cupping Sofia's face, but she looks from one child to the next, unsure of what the right move is. She doesn't know who she should comfort and who is alright.

MacKenzie holds Isabelle back, her own face buried in the girls neck, and Maura is astonished by the level of understanding and intimacy they seem to share.

"It's alright, Belle," Levi speaks into the silence, looking up at his sister from the ground. "This shit isn't going to bother you anymore." The boy Levi has, Maura thinks this must be Adam, makes a sound like a whining dog.

Isabelle's head on Mackenzie's shoulder starts to roll back and forth, and as Maura looks back at Sofia's nose, it registers what she's saying.

"I didn't know. I didn't know I didn't know…"

Maura cannot think of a time she has wanted Jane more.

...

_"You're telling me you were dating that boy?" Jane looks away at Mr. Moore's tone. She understands what it's like to be blindsided by your kids. "For how long? Without telling me or your mother? Is this why you and Melina weren't speaking?" _

_Amaya glares at Jane as though this whole thing is her fault. "She thought he was scum," she says lowly. "She told me not to date him because he was bad news." _

_"She was a good judge of character!" Mr. Moore bursts out, and Amaya jumps to her feet. _

_"She was jealous! She didn't want anything to change. She wanted to be queen bee forever. She wanted to be the first to get a boyfriend. She wanted everything for herself." _

_Mr. Moore has his hands up, his eyes are wide and panicked as he tries to quiet his daughter. _

_"Stop," he hisses. "Amaya stop this. These detectives think you killed her. They think you killed Melina." _

_And Amaya bursts into tears, covering her face with her hands. She shakes it back and forth, muttering, and her father's look of helplessness turns to shock as they all realize what she's saying. _

_"I didn't mean to. I didn't mean to I didn't mean to." _

_Jane looks down at her hands. _

_She wishes Maura was there. _

_Like an answer to her silent plea, her phone is alive, buzzing through with six messages, all of them 911s from her wife. _

_"Frost," she says urgently, pulling her phone out of its holster. "Frost…" _

_..._

Sofia's nose is not broken, thank God. Levi really isn't hurting that boy, thank God. And Isabelle…

Maura watches as MacKenzie pulls gently away from her daughter, leaning in to press a kiss gently to her nose. "Alright?" her voice is soft_. _

Isabelle sniffs, nodding, and MacKenzie shifts her gaze to Sofia, and then tentatively, to Maura. "Call me tonight," she says to Isabelle, already backing away. "If you can."

And Isabelle nods, watching her girlfriend as she turns and walks away, towards the opposite side of the field.

Maura drops her hands from Sofia's face, and takes a step towards Isabelle, who jerks her head around and takes a step back. "Don't," she says, her eyes wide. "Don't yell at me."

And Maura stops dead, a million questions and replies vying for position as most important, as needing to be said first.

But the sentence that wins is, "Oh, Bella…why didn't you tell me?"

And Isabelle shrugs her shoulders, her eyes widening at something behind the doctor, who turns to see her detective, at last, striding across the field kit belt and vest still on from the day, looking fearsome, and the boy in Levi's hold starts to struggle harder, so Maura almost misses Bella's answer to her question.

"I…couldn't."

…

* * *

…

They stand in their bedroom, Maura and Jane, just looking at each other, listening to their kids jostling for position on the couch downstairs. Jane shuts the door silently, running her hand through her hair.

"He wanted them to show him," Maura says, and Jane closes her eyes. "Sofia came around the corner as he was grabbing for MacKenzie. He wanted to watch them "dyke it up."

Jane's eyes open and focus on the floor, "Amaya confessed," she says dully, "Melina made her so mad, she just wanted to shut her up."

"He punches Sofia on the nose while she's trying to comfort her sister, and that's when Bella started yelling for Levi."

"She said to her father, 'I'm not a little girl anymore, you can't keep treating me that way."

"I asked Bella why she didn't tell us, and do you know what she said? She said she couldn't."

"That's two lives ruined. Over a boy."

They look at each other, both glassy eyed, like they haven't really heard the other speaking, but then Maura's eyes widen as her wife's words start to register.

"Oh, God," she says, putting her face in her hands. Jane seems to come back to herself, and she starts to cross the room, intent on nothing so much as holding her wife. But Maura pulls away.

Jane frowns, stopping. "Maur," she tries.

"A girls is _dead, Jane_!" Maura moves away from the detective, even though her tone has already given away her tears. "A girl is dead because of a relationship, and her best friend…her best-"

"Not our girls," Jane says at once, and she closes the distance between them, but doesn't reach out to hold her wife. Not yet. She shakes her head once, "Not _our_ girls, Maura. Listen to me. Our children are safe downstairs fighting over what channel to watch."

"Today could have-"

Jane steps closer, cutting Maura off. "_Could have,_" she says firmly. "But it wasn't. And we won't let it be."

Maura shakes her head, wanting to believe. She tries to stop fresh tears but they come anyway. She feels Jane pull in a deep breath, and she knows it is taking the brunette a lot of will power not to reach out for her. She shakes her head again.

"Isabelle-" she begins, but Jane cuts her off again, not moving.

"Is not alone," she says and her voice is quiet, but steady. "She's not alone, Maura. You were alone a lot of your life…before me and…" Jane hesitates, keeping control, "after me…for a while. You were alone, and you didn't have anyone to…And if I could take those times back, and be there for you...God Maur. You know I would in a heartbeat."

Maura opens her mouth, but no words come to mind. She doesn't turn to face her wife. She can't make herself.

"But Iz isn't you, Maura. She's got me and Lee and Noah and Sofia. She's got you." Mayra feels Jane shift behind her. "She's got us. All of us. She's not alone, and she never has to feel like…She never has to feel like…" Jane breaks off, searching for the right word.

"like no one is there." Maura murmurs.

"What?" Jane steps a little closer, leaning forward, and Maura turns around to face the brunette. Sometimes, they will go an entire day without seeing each other, both running in different directions even though they are on the same team. Children need to be picked up, suspects need to be questioned, the test results are back…and the day will slip by and they will have simply missed one another. On those days, when Maura rushes into the kitchen at the end of the day, or hears the door swing open from the couch in the living room, she will look around into Jane's face and she will be stunned at how much she missed her. At how much she still loves her, after all this time.

It is like that now, facing Jane, just looking at her.

"Maura?" Jane's tone is confused and nervous. She is not used to the silence.

Maura opens her mouth to say 'I love you," but what comes out is, "it hurt, growing up."

Jane's confusion deepens, and Maura knows she has not been clear.

"It hurt…not having…" she tries to find the right words to adequately describe the feelings, but seeing the devastated look on her wife's face, she rushes to smooth it over, "No! not you! I mean, after you'd gone, not having you hurt tremendously… I just mean as a child…an only child…" She looks up into Jane's deep brown eyes. "I never felt as if I had somewhere to go. Someone who would listen to me and…I often felt so…Isolated." She shakes her head, and finally, _finally_, she steps into Jane's arms. She can feel the taller woman shaking slightly.

"I want her to have somewhere to go," she says into Jane's shoulder, "I just want her to have someone she can turn to, always…A family she can count on."

"She does," Jane's response is immediate. "Of course she does."

Jane steps backwards, pulling Maura along with her until she can sit down on the bed and tug the doctor into her lap. "We are that family," she says into the smooth skin of Maura's neck. "We are not the Moores, or the Rosses. You are not your mother, and your children will never know what it's like to have no one to turn to. Even if that someone isn't us."  
Maura closes her eyes, smiling.

"They will not have boyfriends that we don't know about, and they will not have secondary facebook accounts where they discuss their sexual conquests."

Maura wraps her arms around Jane. "They will hate us for butting in."

Jane shrugs, "so be it. If Sofia's becoming me, I might as well become my mother," she grimaces and Maura laughs, pushing her weight forward so that Jane falls back against the bed, looking up at her affectionately.

"I love it when you laugh, Maura," she says and Maura thrills.

She loves this romantic and earnest Jane. Gentle and open and just for her. She bends to press their lips together.

"I Love you, pretty girl," she whispers, and Jane's lips curl into a smile, and she pulls away, taking Maura's hand.

"Come here," she says, tugging her towards the door. "I want to show you something."

Jane leads Maura down the stairs and around the corner, stopping her in the door way to the living room, where all four children are parked on the couch. It barely fits them all anymore. Levi is stretched out lengthwise with Noah squished in at the end, and Sofia and Isabelle are sitting with their legs draped over their brothers. Bella's head is on Sofia's shoulder.

"Listen," Jane says when Maura looks at her questioningly.

"Mom's mad," Isabelle says glumly.

"Nah," Levi says, flipping the channel over to ESPN, "she's just emotional."

"She's an emotional gal," Noah says knowingly, and Maura has to put her hand over her mouth to keep from laughing as her youngest continues, "she thought you were gonna get hurt," Noah says from the end of the couch. "You know how Mom hates it when we get hurt."

"Cuz she carried us," Sofia says wisely, "And she hasn't been hurt nearly as much a Ma, so it's still shocking."

Maura smiles, despite herself, watching Sofia grab the remote and flip over to the history channel. Isabelle sighs heavily, and Sofia slips an arm around her.

"I'm glad we're friends again, Fee," she says quietly, and Sofia rolls her shoulders, uncomfortable with feelings.

"We were never not friends, Belle. I like Kenzie, anyway. I just hate the dickbags who walk around saying shit about you."

"Don't swear!" Noah calls from the end of the couch, Jane chuckles.

"Anyway," Sofia says, as Noah swipes the remote and changes to SPIKE TV, "Mom grew up different from us. She doesn't know what it means ta show up for each other."

"Ma shows up for her," Bella says, turning to look at her sister. Sofia nods, but it's Levi who answers.

"Sometimes, you gotta be reminded, Bella. When it wasn't in you from birth."

And Isabelle nods, accepting this as truth, and Jane drags Maura back into the hall and out of sight. She presses Maura gently up against the wall, leaning in so that when she speaks, her breath is warm and wonderful on the doctor's collarbone.

"That's your family," she says softly, and Maura feels goose bumps along her arms. She tilts her head back, inviting, and Jane grins, kissing her, slipping her fingers into Maura's hair and holding on.

But a loud squeal makes them both jump and look around. Sofia has wandered into the hall, and she is now pressing her hands against her eyes, face screwed up.

"YELCH. MOM! I'm scarred now!" She hollers accusingly, "well, at least we know where you get it, Isabelle."

And Maura and Jane laugh, Jane fake lunging at her daughter and making her scamper away.

"Isolated," Jane scoffs, following after her towards the kitchen.

"I _long_ for isolation."

And Maura laughs, following after her.

* * *

_Thank you. Thank you thank you thank you. Words do not, cannot come close to expressing my gratitude.  
Thank you. Thank you all for showing up for me. I will continue to show up for you. Even if it takes me some time to get back on my feet. _


	6. Chapter 6

"Mom,"

Maura is sleeping hard, and so she barely registers Sofia's harsh whisper. "_Mom!" _

She rolls over, one eye cracking open to take in Sofia's skinny form in the predawn.

"Whattimeis?" She mumbles, and then clears her throat, "what is it, Sofia?"

The teenager shifts from one foot to the other. "Mama's crying."

And the doctor is instantly awake. She sits up and looks towards the other side of the bed, needing visual confirmation of what her child is saying. There's no Jane.

"She's downstairs," Sofia says, and then, "She's in the living room. Crying on the floor."

Maura feels her heart speed up. "What happened? Is she hurt? Did you speak to her? Do you know what happened?"

Sofia shakes her head. "I went down to get water, and she was in there, sitting cross legged. I asked her what was wrong, and she said she just needed some time," Sofia pauses, only continuing when Maura nods encouragingly.

"She told me not to wake you," Sofia says quietly, biting her lip. "So I woke Levi and he said I should tell you..." she trails off, looking torn between worry and fear at breaking her mother's order.

"It's alright," Maura says, pushing back the covers. She is thinking of flashbacks and night terrors, few and far between now, but still ferocious when they come. She tugs one of her daughter's dark brown locks now, smiling. "It's alright, honey," she says again. "You did the right thing."

She meets Isabelle and Noah in the hallway, at the top of the stairs, and both turn their sleepy nervous faces to her as she nears them.

"You two should be sleeping," she says, even though she is touched by their concern for their mother. "You have to be up at school in a couple of hours."

But Isabelle shakes her head, looking distressed. She puts her finger to her lips and then points down the stairs. Maura falls silent.

For a moment, the three of them just stand there, but then Maura hears it, drifting up to them from the living room, The unmistakable sound of crying.

"Levi went down," Isabelle whispers, when Maura turns her shocked face to her. "Like, three minutes ago. He told us to stay up here."

Noah nods, peering up into the doctor's face with his own set of green eyes. "Is Ma okay?" His whisper is small, almost like a whimper. Maura tries to remember the last time any of them saw or heard the detective cry.

Two weeks ago, Levi had hit her in the thigh with a line drive, while they were playing baseball in the park. Maura had been running out onto the field even before the first expletive could fall from her wife's mouth.

Jane had said every swear word in the English dictionary, and three that Maura recognized as Italian. But she hadn't cried.

"Yes," Maura says firmly, resting her hand on Noah's cheek for a moment. She hears Sofia approaching behind her. "Stay here, you three alright? You know how Mama is about crying."

All of them nod, and watch as the doctor descends the stairs quickly. She rounds the corner to the living room reviewing in her head all the tactics that have worked to pull the detective back into reality in the past. But she stops dead at the sight.

Levi and Jane are sitting on the floor in the living room facing away from the hallway door. Jane's head is bowed into her hands, and her shoulders are shaking with the effort of keeping her tears under control. Levi sits close enough to his mother that their knees are millimeters from each other. He could easily put an arm around her shoulders. He doesn't, just sits next to her in silence. And although both bodies are blocking Maura's view, she knows what they are looking at, and she knows what has happened, and there are tears in her eyes too.

"Oh," she says quietly, and Levi turns to look at her, though the detective does not.  
"Oh…oh, Jane."

…

_"Jane? have you seen my Rocky Road? I could have sworn there was a carton of Rocky Road ice cream in the freezer last night." _

_Jane freezes in the hallway between the living room and the kitchen, spoon still in her mouth, empty carton of Rocky Road in her hands. _

_"Uh…" _

_"Jane?" Maura's voice is high, hinting at one of the tantrums that she's so prone to these days, and Jane closes her eyes, cursing silently. _

_"Umm…nnoMaur," She calls back, shaking her head at how full her mouth still sounds. She is really in for it now. _

_"What are you eating?" Suspicious and a little closer, and Jane takes three steps backwards, towards the living room, starting to panic. There is no way to prepare for the fury that her wife is about to reign down upon her. Eight months pregnant and large as a house, these days, Dr. Maura Isles seems to live for making other people cry. Or crying herself. _

_Jane looks around wildly, momentarily wondering if she could fit into the decorative trunk in the hallway by the front door, or if, hormone addled as she is, her wife will not think to look for her behind the coats in the closet. She decides against both._

_"Crackers," she calls back suddenly, realizing that Maura has asked her a question. "I'm eating crackers." _

_Great. Nice save, Rizzoli. If the doctor comes around the corner now, and even gets marginally close to her, she's going to smell that unique combination of marshmallow, nuts and chocolate on her breath. Jane backs up again, and again she scans the room, her eyes sweeping over Jo Friday curled up in his bed by the couch. _

_Jo Friday. _

_"Have you seen the Rocky Road?" The question comes again. In her pregnancy, the doctor has become single minded and no less assertive. She is hungry and on a mission. _

_"Nnno," Jane calls again, staring at her tiny wiry haired little dog, wondering if she dares. "I haven't Maur. Is there anything else?" _

_There is a pause, like she might actually be considering…and then. "No!" Firm and definitive. "Are you lying to me, Jane?" Even blind, the doctor would be able to tell. Maura knows when Jane is lying or angry or so upset that she doesn't want to be bothered, and pregnancy only seems to heighten that sixth sense. "Did you __eat__ my Rocky Road?" _

_Caught. It's now or never. _

_"Jo," Jane whispers urgently, and the little dogs ears prick up, eyes opening hopefully. "Come here, Jo Friday! Do you want a treat, girl?" Out loud, Jane tries to stall but all that comes out of her mouth is, "Uhhhh…" _

_"Jane," Sharp and accusing, Jane hears the stool in the kitchen slide out. Dammit. She is able to fool suspects on a daily basis, and yet this woman who takes thirteen minutes to get off the couch has the power to undo her. In the living room, Jo Friday stretches and sits up, looking at Jane expectantly. _

_Jane beckons her, not daring to call her again with her wife approaching, and miraculously….the dog begins to trot towards her. _

_She kneels down quickly when Jo reaches her, and offers her the empty carton. Jo sniffs delicately, and looks questioningly up at her master. Jane huffs, nodding vigorously, "now is not the time to grow a conscience, Jo Friday," she whispers desperately, "Eat the god damn ice cream and I promise I'll take you out every time you have to shit tonight." _

_Jo Friday does not need another invitation, and by the time Maura rounds the corner, the little dog is chewing happily in the carton, trying to make the most of his surprise meal. Jane glances at Maura's stunned face, realizing she still has the spoon in her hand. She shoves it into the back pocket of her jeans. _

_"I'm sorry, Maur," Jane says, watching her wife carefully. "I think Jo got your ice cream." _

_Maura stares, and Jane isn't breathing. _

_Normal Dr. Isles would question how Jo Friday climbed the five and a half feet to the freezer, removed the top to the ice cream, and ate it, without leaving so much as a drop anywhere along the way. Logical , rational Dr. Isles would back Detective Jane Rizzoli against the hallway wall and interrogate her, sharp green eyes full of suspicion, and, if Jane was lucky, amusement. But normal, rational, logical Dr. Isles is gone, and Jane watches the features she has come to adore soften into tears. _

_"JANE!" Maura wails, and she points at the dog and then whirls to face the detective, finger at her heart in dire accusation. "YOUR DOG," she screeches. "YOUR DOG ATE MY ICE CREAM." _

_Jane nods, trying to look upset and not burst into laughter, or cry in relief. Maybe she has sympathy hormones. Maybe they are both crazy. _

_"YOU. ARE. GOING. TO. GET. ME. MORE." Each word even and spaced, quavering as Maura tries not to cry. "And I never want to…never want to see JO FRIDAY….in this house…AGAIN…." _

_Jane nods and nods, glancing at Jo sitting in the doorway of the living room, head cocked as she takes in the screaming doctor. _

_"Okay, Maur," Jane says, bending to pick up Jo. It is August, and a couple nights in the dog house out back won't hurt Jo Friday. If Jane has to sleep on the couch one more time, she is going to go mad. "Okay…we're going." _

_"And not the Bodega around the corner, Jane Rizzoli. Drive to Fresh Market and get me the kind I like." _

_Jane fights the urge to salute. Those are her children in there, and she wants to be alive to meet them. She shuts the door quietly behind her, Jo still in her arms. She loads him into the car and they zoom away, Jane wondering if this is enough of an emergency to use the pop on siren she has in her glove box. She glances at Jo Friday, head out the window, tongue out in the breeze, and she chuckles. The little dog turns to look at her. _

_"Thanks for taking the heat," she murmurs. Jo Friday's tail goes. "She would have killed me. You're much too cute to kill. And you like the back yard…it's just for a week or so," Jane pulls to a stop at a red light, "Or who knows, Jo, She might be crying to hug you when we get back…this last month has been pretty crazy." _

_More tail wagging. Jane grins. _

_"Anyway…thanks, partner." _

_Jo Friday barks and sticks her little head back out the window. _

_….._

Levi stands quietly and approaches Maura in the almost doctor. "It's Jo," he says unnecessarily. Maura nods, reaching out to embrace him, realizing she has to reach up because his shoulders are now above hers, broad and muscular like his mother's.

"I know," she murmurs, "did she say anything?"

Levi shakes his head, and Maura glances by him towards Jane, who has not made any movement to acknowledge the doctor's presence. She nods and squeezes his arm. "Go see about your siblings," she says, and Levi slips past her towards the stairs, understanding.

She listens to the stairs creak a little as he ascends them, watching the detective's hunched shoulders shiver, the muscles in her back tensing under her tank top. For a moment she wonders if she should leave Jane by herself to grieve. Although she loves, loved, Jo Friday like he was a human part of her family, she knows that Jane's attachment to the little dog had gone beyond her own.

She is about to turn around, give her wife another couple of minutes, but Jane shudders, and sniffs, her head tilting a little bit, as though listening.

"Maur?" Deep and raspy saturated with tears, a plea. Maura crosses the room quickly, kneeling down next to her wife, glancing at the little dog bed, confirming what she already knows.

"Sweet girl," she says quietly, reaching out to push Jane's hair out of her face. "Honey, I'm so sorry."

Jane manages a nod, and when Maura puts the back of her hand against her cheek, she leans into it hard, accepting the comfort.

"She didn't…" Jane swallows, "She didn't come to bed…I woke up in the-in the night, and noticed she….that she…" But Jane doesn't get any further, and Maura pulls her into her arms as she falls apart again.

"I know, honey. I know…I'm so sorry, sweetheart." She has been with Jane coming up on 15 years, and she can count on one hand the times that her wife has allowed her to comfort her like this. "It's alright," she murmurs into the raven hair, and she's not saying it's okay that Jo is gone, but that it is completely acceptable for Jane to break down. "It's alright, honey…I know."

Jane shivers again and presses closer to Maura. Her words are muffled in the bend of the doctors neck, and so Maura feels the words rather that hears them.

"She was such a…a good dog."

…

_It is four and a half miles from Cambridge to Mission hill, but with a tiny wiry dog and a giant double stroller, the roundabout way that Jane is forced to take is almost six. Still, the pavement under her feet feels good, and the weak April sun is just enough to keep her warm as she pushes onwards. _

_In their seats in the double jogger, the twins babble happily. Isabelle in particular likes these runs, and more often than not, Jane will see a tiny little fist pop up over the top of the stroller and wave merrily about, as though urging the detective on. _

_Maura is in the lab, overseeing the new wave of lab techs to come in, and never one to sit idly at home, Jane opts to jog to the park with the twins. _

_It's been almost a year since she's been to Mission Hill, pregnant Maura and then newborn twins kept her away from anything that didn't directly relate to a baby, but now, as she turns left up the steep incline that leads to the park, Jo Friday panting along beside her, she is filled with a sort of _

_The park is crowded. It's the first decent Saturday this spring, and everyone is taking advantage. Jane pulls the blanket from the little storage bin under the stroller, and spreads it out, grinning as Jo Friday runs in circles around the perimeter, yipping happily. The little dog watches intently as Jane unloads the food, jars for the girls and one giant sub for her. When the bag of chips drops onto the blanket with a soft crinkle, Jo Friday lets out one, soft whine. _

_"Don't you even think about it," Jane grins, lifting a pudgy little Sofia out of her side of the stroller. "Those are my chips." _

_But Jo Friday cocks her head and tips herself back onto her hind legs, and Sofia lets go such a delighted string of giggles, that Jane knows she will be sharing soon. _

_Baby number two is set gently onto the blanket and Jo Friday waits for Jane to settle herself down too, before coming to lie between Isabelle's little legs. _

_Jane looks the three little beings in front of her, all waiting patiently to be fed. Her heart seems to catch fire a little bit, with something fierce and strong. _

_Jo Friday fidgets impatiently. _

_"It used to be just you and me that came here," she says to the little dog, tossing her a chip that she catches midair. "Remember the time we came when Maura and I had a fight?" _

_Jo sits up, ears attention. "Dead of winter and you were so cold I had to carry you home in my coat." She tosses another chip and Jo catches this one too. Not used to being ignored, not to mention not fed, Isabelle and Sofia let go twin cries of indignation. _

_Forgetting the chips entirely, Jo Friday whirls around to lick their toes, first Isabelle and then Sofia, and then the little dog whirls back to face Jane, her little features clearly imploring the detective to make it right. _

_"Okay, okay," Jane says popping open a jar of applesauce. "Lesson learned. Feed the babies and __then__ the dog. Got it." She scoots closer to the girls, reaching for a spoon, prodding Jo out of the way so she can begin to feed them. _

_"More than just you and me now, buddy," Jane says alternating between her daughters, smiling at the way that Sofia will lean towards the spoon even when it is not headed for her mouth. "More than Maura, even. You gotta be a family dog, now. Alright?" _

_Like she has heard, like she understands, Jo Friday moves to sit behind Jane, her little doggie back against the detectives. _

_Jane glances over her shoulder and feels tears begin to well up. Jo Friday is on alert, watching the people passing by with shrewd little eyes. _

_Jane turns back to the girls. She would never, in a million years, have pegged herself for the kind of person who takes her dog and her daughters to the park. The kind of person who __likes__ taking her dog and daughters to the park. Or the kind of person who gets teary over a territorial little dog. _

_But at that moment, there's nowhere else she'd rather be. _

_…_

It's light when they move again. Jane appears to have cried herself out, and she pulls away, sighing deeply.

"Alright?" Maura asks cautiously, and Jane moves to stand up, nodding.

The doctor is not sure when the children came down and settled on the couch, but when she helps Jane to her feet and turns around, she is not surprised to see them there, sitting closer together, waiting silently. Both girls have red rimmed eyes, like they've been crying, and even Levi looks a little scruffy. She notices that they have all dressed, that Isabelle is chewing the end of a granola bar, and she glances down at her watch at the same time Jane does, eyes widening at the time.

"Shit," Jane swears, "Sorry…sorry, guys," her voice is hoarse and rough, like she's just waking up. "I lost track of time." She rolls her shoulders.

"It's okay, Ma," Noah says, voice high and timid, "we're not mad."

Isabelle nods, "We loved Jo too, mama."

For a second, Jane looks like she's going to break down again, but then she smiles weakly, holding out her arms, and all her children come at once, crowding around their mothers and pulling them both in. Maura can't help but smile.

Jane is the first to pull away, wiping hastily at her eyes, trying on a grin. "I'll drive you guys to school," she says, "Just let me grab a-"

But Maura cuts her off, an idea occurring to her, "Let's play hookah."

All five of her family members look at her like she's got fourteen heads. She looks back at each of them in turn, smiling.

"Excuse me?" Jane says after a moment.

"Hookah," Maura repeats herself slowly. "As in…not going to work?" She waits, but the blank looks only become more confused. She frowns. "I thought we could take the day off, spend it as a family…you and I are on call, Jane and nobody got a lot of sleep….I just thought-"

But Jane bursts into laughter, and then Levi and Sofia are laughing too. "What?" Maura asks, feeling a little grumpy.

"It's…hooky…Mommy," Sofia manages between peals of laughter. "Hookah…is drugs."

"I miss Jo Friday like mad, Maura," Jane says, still chuckling, "But a day of drugs with the family won't help."

And Maura swats at her wife, but once her hand makes contact, she finds all she wants to do is hold on. "Oh…she says, fake glaring at Levi as he and Sofia burst into laughter again. "Alright…alright…I'll call the school, and we'll go out to brunch…where should we go?"

There is a pause and everyone looks at Jane, whose smile drops slowly off her face. She bites her lip. "Let's go to Joe's," she says after a moment, her voice dropping low. "We always used to bring her doggie bags from there…and…" She stops abruptly, and Maura nods, smiling at her.

"It'll be like a tribute," she says quietly, watching Jane swallow hard. "I think it's perfect.

…

"And there was that time Belle used her in the school play, Mom, remember?" Sofia is wiping tears of laughter away from her eyes, and next to her in the booth, Levi is laughing so hard that he has to hold his stomach.

Jane is shaking her head, "ugliest baby I've ever seen. I don't see why they couldn't use a baby doll."

"It had to be realistic!" Isabelle says defensively, leaning against Maura.

"Right…because a nine year old with a dog baby is as 'real life' as it gets," Jane says, but her face is soft and teasing. On her left, Noah wraps his arms around her, ever the sensitive guy. "She was the best," He says quietly, and Jane nods, glancing at Maura. "Better than a turtle, even?"

And Maura pretends to be offended, though she can't quiet muster it. It's nice, sitting there in a booth too small for all six of them, but loving it all the same. On the other side of Jane, Sofia grins at Maura.

"I like Bass. And Bass will live forever."

"Remember when Jo _rode _ Bass?" Levi pipes up.

"Remember when they raced and Bass won?" Noah.

"Jo Friday got distracted by his very complex dog thoughts," Sofia reasons.

"He got distracted by the lint under the refidgerator…that's where May sweeps it all when Mom's not looking."

Maura really does manage a scandalized look this time, Jane looks sheepish. "When are we ever going to move the fridge?"

"We might move sometime in the future," Maura says, and Jane shrugs, looking sly.

"Someone else's problem, then isn't it?"

This makes Levi and Isabelle laugh again. And Maura is just about to comment on this, but then their food arrives, and everything turns to where is the syrup, hand me that ketchup packet, why is your elbow in my eggs.

But Jane is staring down at her plate, her face unreadable. Maura nudges Isabelle out of the way to lean forward across the table.

"Jane? is it okay? I mentioned to the waitress…and…I'm sorry I just thought that," Maura is speaking quickly, trying to read the detective's face, but before she can finish, Jane puts out her hand, silencing her.

With her other hand, she picks up the little trinket that adorns her bunny shaped pancakes: a tiny little plastic dog, like the kind you pay a quarter and twist the metal nob for. She holds it in the palm of her hand, directly over her scar, looking at it like it's the most precious thing she's ever received.

Maura and the children wait nervously, all eyes on Jane's face, as she turns the little dog over in her hand. She opens her mouth, and shuts it again.

"Jane," Maura says, starting to panic, "I-"

But Jane shakes her head, looking up at her wife, and then around at their kids. She leans over Noah and sets the little dog on the windowsill by the booth.

"Remember that time Noah sat on Jo?" She says, and her voice only shakes the tiniest bit.

Noah squawks in protest. "She was covered in snow! I was on a snow tube! How was I supposed to know?"

And suddenly the table is laughing and jostling again. But Jane catches Maura's eye and grins. _ I love you. _She mouths, when none of the children is looking. _You're my reason._

And Maura kisses two fingers and touches them to her heart, before digging in to her own brunch.


	7. Chapter 7

If someone had told Maura Isles the teenager, or even Maura Isles the young adult, that someday her Sundays would be filled with noise and food and _children that belonged to her, _she would have told that someone they were crazy. She would have explained the differences between dreams and reality, and the likelihood of making a logically impossible dream become a reality does not make any kind of rational sense.

But now, she hands thirteen placemats to her eldest son, and an entire bucket of flatware to her eldest daughter, as it is their turn to set the table. And she smiles as she turns back to stove, shooing her wife out of the way so she can check on the pasta.

Angela and Jane are bickering, as usual, and Maura throws a rueful look at her own mother, who is seated at the breakfast bar, before wading into the conversation.

"I think it's sweet," she says holding up a piece of linguini for her wife to taste. "And Isabelle seems to really care about her."

Jane holds up three fingers to signal that it needs a little more time.

"I don't know," Constance says quietly, from her spot. "They are awfully young, aren't they?"

Angela nods vigorously in agreement, "And what do we _know_ about her?" Angela says, turning from the sink with wet hands and reaching for the dish towel slung over Jane's shoulder.

"Well," Maura says, grinning at Jane's exasperated face, "we know her name is Mackenzie Brown. She's in Isabelle and Sofia's grade at school, and is in most of the advanced classes that they take."

"Most of?" Angela cuts the doctor off, flipping the towel back over her daughter's shoulders. "Not all of them?"

Jane rolls her eyes, "Ma," she says reasonably, "Even Sofia didn't get into the advanced science class. They're just freshmen."

"I see," Angela says, narrowing her eyes. "And so, '_most' _is good enough for your daughter is it?"

Jane snorts. "Ma," she says irritably, "this is exactly why you don't get to meet the girl. This is exactly why Isabelle didn't want to invite her to Sunday dinner."

"_I'm _the reason?" Angela squawks. "I just think you and your wife should get to know anyone who decides they want to be close to my grandbabies. I mean…what do we _really_ know about her. Have you met her parents?"

Constance nods seriously, and Maura loves that she is entering into the conversation. "Yes," she says, "Yes, you should meet the parents before you condone their relationship."

Maura cannot help but laugh at the look on Jane's face. "We're taking it one step at a time, mother, Angela," she says, because Jane seems unable to form a sentence through her indignation. "We've only known about this girl for two weeks or so, and with Isabelle being so hesitant to tell us-"

"That's just another thing that doesn't make sense," Angela says grumpily. "I mean…I understand her reluctance to share the intimate details of her life with her parents – you were always so closed off, Janie – but what negative reaction could have come from her confession of her life choice."

Jane's eyes flash a little, but she manages to keep her temper in check. "First of all," She says leaning to kiss Maura's cheek as she heads towards the living room, "it is not a _life choice_, Ma. It's a genetic trait. Secondly, do not use the word intimate when talking about your grandchildren's relationships, homosexual or otherwise."

Angela huffs, following after her into the living room where Frankie is sitting on the couch with his girlfriend Megan, "okay, okay, my apologies," she says sitting down across from her son. "So," she says sweetly, "Megan…what's new in the exciting world of reporting?"

"Maa," Frankie says warningly, but he doesn't get a chance to continue, because at that moment, Yelling can be heard coming from outside the house.

"Who _CARES_ how you turn the wheel Lydia, the car is _OFF_! Nothing's going to happen to it when the car is off!"

The yelling can be heard from the front hall, and almost everyone who is in the living room turns to look at the door way. Maura comes to the doorway that connects the living room and kitchen looking worried.

"Uh oh," Frankie breathes. He looks at Jane and quickly swigs the last of the beer in his hand, tugging the bottle out of his girlfriend's hand too. "Sounds like a no alcohol kind of night kind of evening," he stands, and Jane stands with him, handing him her half empty bottle as well.

"I heard it on the news, Tommy, Jesus," Comes another raised angry voice. "Dontcha think they might know…oh….I dunnah, A LITTLE MORE THAN YOU?"

Jane looks at Maura with wide eyes, and then back at Frankie. "I thought you said it'd gotten better," she whispers. Behind him, Sofia and Levi appear in the doorway from the dining room, place settings still in their hands. Both look mildly worried, but not shocked.

"It had," Frankie said. "When I took Teej out for burgers Tuesday, he said it was loads better."

"You are one of the most ridiculous, stupid, asinine humans I have ever met," Tommy is yelling now, and Maura turns away from the door toward the kitchen, wincing.

"It's pronounced ass-a-Ninny, Thomas…"

Jane and Frankie exchange a look that could _almost _border laughter. It would be funny….it would be funny if…

"Jane," Maura squeezes Jane's arm as she goes by. "T.J. did not ride home with Noah," She fixes Jane with a meaningful look, only turning away when she sees realization dawn on the brunette.

"Sofia," she says as she passes, "Go get your sister and brother from upstairs. Tell Noah if he's not done with his homework, that he can bring it down and Nona will help him, and serve him right for waiting until the last moment."

Sofia grins at the prospect of telling her brother off. "And tell your sister to stop making kissy faces and get off the phone and come down…for goodness sake she will see Mackenzie in less than 18 hours, _and_ she will be spending dinner with the girl tomorrow night."

Jane strides out into the front hall and pulls the front door of the house open on the cold October air. Lydia and Tommy are standing, nose to nose, on her doorstep, and Tommy's face is an ugly, blotchy red color that she remembers seeing on him as a baby, when he would throw a tantrum.

Between them, and a little behind, is Thomas Jr., his scruffy blond head bent low over his iPhone.

"Hello, little brother," Jane says, "thank you for alerting the entire neighborhood that you are here."

Tommy looks at her, managing to muster a little bit of a shame face.

"Hey, Janie," he mutters.

"Hi, Jane," Lydia says, and unlike her husband, she doesn't seem willing to let go of their argument. "Will you please tell your _brother_ that it totally matters whether or not you straighten out the wheel when you park the car? Will you tell him that unless he wants to-"

"Heey, T.J." Jane cuts her off, reaching through the adults to pull the little boy into the house. He glances up at her and gives her a wan little smile.  
"Hey, Aunt Jane," he says, and she wants to pull him into her arms.

"I think Noah is waiting for you in the living room, bud," Jane says, smiling when T.J.'s eyes light up a little bit. Tommy Jr. looks up to his older cousin immensely.

"Cool," he says, shoving his phone into his back pocket and heading down the hall. Jane watches him go, and then turns on her brother and his wife, pressing her finger to Tommy's chest hard.

"What the hell are you doing?" She asks ferociously.

Tommy looks flabbergasted. "Hey, Ow," he knocks her hand away and rubs at his chest. "What is that for? What are you talking about?"

"You two!" she hisses, putting out a hand to stop Lydia from sidling by her. "You two have _got_ to stop fighting in front of your son."

"Our…" Lydia begins, like she maybe forgot she had a son in the first place.

Jane barely manages to keep from slapping her across the face. "Yes, your son?" She says, still trying to keep her voice low. She glares at her youngest brother. "_Your _namesake? You remember him, don't you? Little, blank faced boy I just shoved down the hall?"

"Aw, Jane," Tommy rubs the back of his neck. "He's alright. He knows I don't mean anything by it."

Jane's eye brows shoot up high enough that they look like they might disappear into her hair line. "Oh yeah? You knew Pop never meant anything by it?"

Tommy's face goes dark, "I would never put a hand on my family."

Lydia colors immediately. "We won't be your family much longer if you keep speaking to me like I'm some kind of _animal" _Lydia says, firing up immediately.

"You didn't seem to mind it at all last night!" Tommy shoots back.

"Oh, my God, gross. That is enough! That is enough," Jane says, and her voice is furious enough to make both of them fall silent and look at her. "If you two cannot be civil, then you're not welcome at Sunday dinner. Jesus! Can't you two pull yourselves together for three hours?"

Lydia's bright blue eyes fill up with tears. "I knew you'd take your brother's side!" She cries, and with that she turns and runs back down the stairs.

"Lydia!" Tommy calls after her. "Lydia, come on. Don't be a drama queen."

Jane rolls her eyes. "Oh yeah," she says. "That will bring her back."

Tommy turns back to her, looking confused and upset. Jane sighs. "Get in here you dipshit. You can tell me all about it after dinner."

She puts her hand on his shoulder and guides him in. "You alright?" What she really is asking is if he's had a drink.

He nods. "Yeah," he says, and his mouth twitches in an attempt at a smile.

"What's for dinner?"

"Maura and Ma made Linguini and Vodka sauce. Constance brought a pineapple upside down cake," she pauses, taking a breath. "T, you know that T.J. is welcome here any time, right? If you and Lydia need to take some time and work things out…he's like a son to us, okay? Just…anytime, okay?"

As if she's heard her name, Maura appears at the end of the hallway, pasta spoon in her hand. "Dinner, darling," she calls quietly. "Hello, Tommy."

Tommy musters a little more of a smile for the doctor. "Hey, Maur." He makes to follow after Jane towards the dining room, where the big family is starting to convene around the table.

"Thank Jane," he says quietly. "For…everything."

She looks over her shoulder at him, and for a moment her face is soft and understanding, saying 'you're welcome," but then she rolls her eyes, and huffs.

"Yeah, yeah, come on. Ma will have someone else to pick at, anyway."

Tommy chuckles, and follows his sister down the hallway.

…

* * *

…

They get in bed quickly, as though if they don't hurry, a case will come up or a child will need them. Angela will insist that everyone have one more cup of coffee, or Noah and T.J. will insist they need to watch one more episode of Dragon Ball Z.

"I love our family," Jane says, slipping between the sheets with a sigh, "But that is the least restful start to a week that anyone could ever conceive of.

Maura chuckles, sliding down next to her wife in bed. She wraps an arm around the detective's waist, tucking herself into her side. "It is a little draining isn't it?" she asks, her eyes already starting to drop shut. "Maybe we should think about moving it."

Jane chuckles, and the vibration makes Maura sigh and snuggle closer. "We already force the kids in by three on Thursday. I don't think we could convince them to trade for Friday or Saturday. Not now that they are all," Jane pulls a face, "in _love._"

Maura smiles. "Did you see how Levi was so fidgety at dinner? Do you think that's a girl?"

Jane's hand comes up to thread through Maura's hair. "Yeah. The way he was attached to his phone the rest of the evening?" She sighs, and then laughs again. "At least your mother straightened him out."

Maura grins, remembering the way Constance had laid into her grandson about etiquette, her voice shot through with a cutting sense of disappointment that only seemed to get sharper with age.

The smile slips off Maura's face a little. "How did she look to you? My mother?"

Jane blinks at the ceiling. "She looked okay," she says after a moment. "Tan. Where'd she come from? Somwhere in Central America, right?"

Maura sighs. "She looked old to me," she says quietly, and she feels Jane hesitate.

"Well," she begins, and Maura sits up on her elbow to shoot a look at the detective.

"Don't you dare."

"They both are, Maur," Jane says defensive. "They are both getting older."

Maura flops back down beside her wife. "My mother has a good ten years on your mother, what is she? Sixty eight?"

"Sixty Six," Jane murmers, "and she has seven years on her, Maura. That's not so old."

"It's old to be traveling as much as she does, and alone like that."

"She travels much less than she used to since she moved here. She has yet to miss one of her grandson's musicals. Something I often wish I could do."

Maura smiles, despite herself, circling back around to the conversation they'd been having before her tangent. "Thank God he hasn't discovered girls yet," She says, "Noah I mean," she continues when Jane looks a little confused.

"Well, I'm not sure girls are going to be his cup of tea," Jane says, grinning.

"Oh, Jane," Maura says, "Don't pigeonhole the boy just because he's in the drama club."

Jane sucks her teeth. "He's not just _in_ the drama club, Maura. He is the junior _president_ of the drama club. I preformed "You Can't get A Man With a Gun" for the Spring talent Show."

"It was cute! He had a gun!"

"He roped a cardboard cutout of that New Direction boy with the spikey hair."

"He got a standing ovation."

"Yes," Jane says "Our children are lucky enough to go to a hippy school where everyone is accepted for who they are."

Maura sighs, tipping her head to kiss Jane's chin. "Well, boys or girls. I don't think that I could handle one more hormone driven child under our roof."

Jane is silent for a moment, thinking. "Hey," she says, "have we heard from Lukas recently?"

The question catches Maura off guard, not because it is out of the blue, but because she realizes that the answer is no.

The little boy that she and Jane rescued in a mall almost fifteen years ago, is now a handsome young man, a freshman in college, and a dedicated correspondent of the detective's.

"No," she says slowly. "When was the last letter you got? They come to the precinct usually, don't they?"

Jane nods, "Yeah, but the Christmas card from the Brody's comes to the house…I don't know." She stills, trying to remember. "I guess it was about a month ago. Not so out of character now," she grins, "Now that he's a college man."

Maura sighs, "can you believe that Levi will be there in just two more years?"

Jane seems to consider for a moment, but when their eyes meet, she growls, rolling so that she is facing the doctor. "What about a hormone driven wife, Maura?" She says, her voice deep and rough. "Can you handle that?"

Maura flushes as Jane bites at her neck, starting to laugh as long fingers start to tease her ribcage. Sunday nights, after the dishes are done, and the kids are in bed, usually finds the brunette slipping her wife out of her pajamas

"I never could handle you, detective," she giggles, as Jane sucks her earlobe into her mouth.

"Damn straight," Jane growls, "Get the light."

…

* * *

…

Mackenzie Brown is shorter than Isabelle, with long brown hair and bright green eyes. She stops to shake Jane's hand as the detective counts the number of children coming in the front door.

"Thank you for having me for dinner, Detective Rizzoli," she says quietly, and Jane thinks she must be an only child, or else she would not survive with such a soft voice.

"Uh…Jane," she says, surprised at the handshake, and distracted by her count. "Just call me Jane. Okay, we're one up like we're supposed to be, but this is the wrong combination of children…T.J., does your mother know you are here?"

"I texted her from the bus," T.J.'s backback seems to be answering her as the boys run up the stairs to Noah's room.

"You texted her from the bus," Jane mutters, "great…Where is Levi?"

Sofia, heading up the stairs as well, half turns to her. "He said he was staying late for a project," she says with half a grin, "I am under no circumstances to tell you that he got detention for cutting gym."

Jane points at her daughter as she turns away.

"Tattletale!" she cries. "Telling on your sneaky older brother like that! I am going to tell him it was you who ratted him out, missy."

Sofia shrugs. "You're a detective, mama," she responds sweetly. "You would have figured it out."

Maura comes out of her study at that moment, pulling her hair up into a messy bun. "I was worried that our house had been uprooted and replaced in the middle of a stampeding herd of elephants," she says exasperated.

Jane grins. "No, darling, just our children," she raises her voice. "Children! Say hello to Mommy."

The call of "hi mom!," "Hi Mommy!" "Hi Auntie Maura," can be heard from the upstairs of the house.

Jane sees Mackenzie swallow hard before stepping up to the doctor.

"Hello, Dr. Isles," she says quietly, "Thank you very much for having me over to dinner."

Maura looks just as surprised as Jane must have, and she flashes her wife a questioning look before taking the girl's hand. "It's nice to meet you too, sweetheart. You're very welcome here, of course."

"Yeah, if you keep your tongue out of my daughter's mouth," Jane says, laughing as Isabelle and Maura both turn twin looks of horror on her.

"_mom!" _Isabelle's face is also bright red. "_C'mon! Gross."_

But Mackenzie laughs, a small sort of jingling sound that makes Jane raise her eyebrows. "Yes, ma'am." She says to Jane. "But may I hold her hand? She has the most wonderful hands."

There is something innocent and earnest about this little girl. Jane grins at her. "Sure you can," she says.

Isabelle looks torn between death by embarrassment and death by delight.

"Are you girls going to do your homework down here, or upstairs?" Maura asks, shooting Jane a look. "I don't know if Isabelle told you but it's-"

"Homework before dinner," Mackenzie says it softly enough that she doesn't sound like she's interrupting. "Let's do it down here, Belle."

Maura comes to stand next to Jane, watching while the two girls set up in the living room.

"They're cute together," Maura says quietly.

"She's a little odd, isn't she?" Jane whispers back.

Maura shrugs, "I was a little weird. You still fell for me."

Jane nods, looking thoughtful, "well, I like them over here, anyway. Too many sibling cockblocks for anything to hot and heavy to go down."

Maura frowns, looking puzzled.

"It means-" Jane begins, but Maura waves her away.

"I know what it means, Jane," she says grumpily, "that bit of crude slang I am familiar with. I just don't see how it applies to our daughter and her female love interest as they don't have any-"

"Female love interest? Really Maura?" The buzzing of Jane's phone starts to sound from the brunette's pocket and she pulls it out. "What are they, apes?"

Maura doesn't have a chance to respond, because her phone is buzzing too.

Dispatch.

"God," Jane says, putting the phone to her ear, "Does anyone ever call us but dead people? Rizzoli."

"Yes, Maura says, We'll be there in twenty minutes."

"Thirty," Jane says into her phone. "It's rush hour."

They close their phones and Jane steps to the bottom of the stairs, calling up. "Babies! Your mothers are going!" She pulls forty dollars out of her pocket, "The first person to take this money from me, gets to decide what you order!"

There is the thundering of feet in the upstairs hallway, but Isabelle has come from the living room and snatched the money before Noah even makes it to the first landing.

"No…fair…" he puffs. "Bella was here already."

"What do you want, Kenz?" Isabelle asks. Maura notices that when she's speaking to Mackenzie, her voice goes soft and quiet, just like hers.

"Burgers," Mackenzie says at once.

From the closet where she's unlocking her gun, Jane laughs. "Like's your hands, enjoys a good burger" she appears around the corner with her belt on and Mackenzie's eyes go wide at the gun affixed to her side. Jane doesn't notice, she's already gesturing to Maura.

"I'd hang onto this one, Kenz," she says.

Maura turns to their children. "Lock the door behind us," she says, and because Jane won't, "Girls, look after your brother. Homework needs to be done when we return,"

"And you never know when that might be," Jane cuts in. "So I suggest you do it before the TV comes on."

"Tell your brother he can expect to speak to us when we get home." Maura says.

The children look back at their parents, all nods.

"We love you, babies."

"Aye, Mamas!" Noah says, already turning back upstairs.

"Adios madres," Sofia calls from the landing.

Isabelle blows a kiss.

"Be good!" Jane adds, and she ushers Maura out the door, into the evening light, and the hard October wind.

* * *

**Remember this story? Remember these people? lol. Hope it meets the expectations. you all have to PROMISE to let me know if we get too Seventh Heaven up in here. I love family drama as much as the next person, but this is Jane and Maura we're talking about, and I don't want to forget about their jobs while I juggle their homelives. **

**3 to all of you who requested this story. here and on tumblr. It means more to me than you know, and I will try not to disappoint. **

**happy reading  
tc**


End file.
